Are you growing increasingly ambivalent to the latest security threats? It’s probably not just you: security fatigue is a growing phenomenon that’s sweeping everyone from casual home users to international corporations.
Read on to find out if your lack of good security practices might be down to old-fashioned burnout.
Studies from NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, recently showed that hearing of major cyberattacks and being confronted with new security measures can leave many people feeling overwhelmed.
This feeling, instead of being a call to action, can instead cause a paralysing effect. Warning signs of a potential attack can be overlooked, and safety procedures can fall by the wayside as users become tired of keeping up the effort.
##What’s The Risk?##
While we all know that unique and complex passwords are essential for each and every account you own, so many of us know the risks and continue to re-use passwords. Additionally, we may not take advantage of the security tools available, such as password managers or two-factor authentication.
We’re creatures of habit, and the change might seem to offer little promise of reward. Pervasive security myths abound, and can even start to sound compelling: it may appear that we don’t have anything worth safeguarding.
I’ll be fine as long as I don’t indulge risky sites. Our antivirus software will keep us fully safe. Do you believe any of these? See our guide to the 5 most biggest security myths to see why they’re harmful.
Interestingly, the study also found a high level of trust from consumers that their online safety would be adequately protected by the secure sites they were using, such as online banking. As we see daily, not even large sites are bulletproof.
##What Can You Do?##
So, how can we reduce the impact of security fatigue on users? This is particularly important knowledge for those of us running businesses with employees who have access to customer data.
The key, according to the paper, includes reducing the number of security-related decisions that each user needs to make.
Automating important security decisions, such as using a password manager on every work account, blocking sites outside of the work intranet, as well as scheduling dates where users must change their passwords, can all help to reduce the reliance on each employee to uphold security policy.
Home users, also take heed: set measures in place that make it easy for you to be secure. They might take a little initial investment of time and effort, but will ultimately serve you well. Setting up separate user accounts, installing a password manager and researching the best security suites are just some great places to start.
Of course, whether you’re a business or a private user, signing up with BreachAlarm’s WatchDog service can help you safeguard your e-mail address. Click here to find out how!
