This Sunday April 21st is World Creativity and Innovation Day, a day to celebrate and encourage creative thinking across all disciplines. It is easy to think of creativity as a skill confined to the arts, when creativity and the ability to innovate probably are essential skills in any industry.
Technology is evolving at a rapid rate, and so is cybercrime. With more advanced tools at their disposal and an increasing number of digital targets, cybercriminals are only getting more sophisticated in their attacks. To combat this, creativity and innovation in cybersecurity are vital in order to respond to the growing threat of cybercrime and stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.
In the digital age, where a great deal of business takes place over the internet, organizations and enterprises present lucrative targets for cybercriminals. Cyberattacks are now one of the main threats to businesses – a successful data breach or ransomware attack can cause irreparable damage, both financial and reputational.
With this in mind, security teams need to shift from a reactive role to one that is proactive in regard to cyberthreats. Cyberattacks are only on the rise, and yet many organizations fail to recognize cybersecurity as a necessary and strategic investment. Embracing creativity and innovation is essential in order to approach threat detection and security in a strategic way.
Security teams no longer focus only on employee access, restriction, and controls to protect organizations. The best and brightest teams should now also be focused on pre-emptive threat protection, and in the case of an attack, rapid response and mitigation. From augmenting human intuition with machine learning to incorporating design principles into cybersecurity solutions, there is a multitude of ways security teams can embrace creative solutions to cyberattacks.
In addition to viewing threat detection as an area for innovation and strategy, a creative approach to internal security training is also vital for protecting organizations. Employee negligence and human error are the leading causes of breaches in security. It goes without saying that, by taking a more creative approach to security training, employees are likely to be more engaged and retain learned knowledge.
For example, rather than lecturing employees on how to spot a phishing email, devise an unscheduled phishing simulation for a period of time that mirrors the kind of emails different departments would realistically receive. Gamify the exercise with a leader board or tally, encouraging employees to compete with one another in their ability to detect malicious emails. Additionally, you could create interactive videos or quizzes to test employees on correct steps to take if there is a breach of security. Indeed, you can also use free, on-demand cybersecurity awareness training that covers multiple aspects of protection from digital threats.
Organizations are only as strong as their weakest links, and by approaching cybersecurity with creativity in mind, not only will it be more stimulating for employees but, likely, more effective as well.
