Staff need security education, says expert

Posted by Paul Sells

Companies need to educate staff about IT security dangers if they want to win the war against hackers, an expert has suggested.

Luis Corrons, technical director for Panda Security, told IT outsourcing users that education and training is one of the most important steps firms can take to minimise their exposure to cybercrime.

He claimed that people can be trained to deal with malware without causing a massive interruption to their day, such as through explaining security policies about emails from unrecognised sources.

"Of course, that is just one of the things that is really, really important. Most malware is installed in security walls with vulnerabilities so it's really, really important to apply patches in all your computers," the expert added.

Mr Corrons also noted that patches should not just be applied to Windows, but all applications which are commonly used, such as Adobe Flash player and Acrobat reader.

The recent Symantec State of Enterprise Security 2010 found that three-quarters of businesses have experienced a hacking attempt in the past year.