In an increasingly complex digital landscape, cybersecurity is a critical concern for all business functions, but HR departments are particularly vulnerable. Founder of the National Cybersecurity Centre, Michael Marcottepoints out that the biggest problem is that too few HR professionals are aware or prepared for this risk. The HR industry is notoriously lacking in awareness of the cybersecurity landscape and current threats and is under-resourced cyber defences.
This article will explore some of the key reasons that HR is so susceptible to cybersecurity threats and what can be done to mitigate the risks.
Reason 1: Handling Highly Sensitive Data
HR professionals manage vast amounts of sensitive personal information from company employees, including addresses, bank account details, health records, and even biometric data. Data of this kind is a goldmine for cybercriminals who can exploit it for identity theft, financial fraud, and other malicious activities. The high value of HR data makes it a primary target for attacks like phishing, ransomware, and data breaches.
Emerging technologies now add to this threat, meaning that sophisticated cyber criminals can use such personal data to create deepfakes of employees. They can use these deepfakes to manipulate other employees via video call or phone to take actions such as transferring company funds or selling assets.
Reason 2: Frequent communication with external parties
HR departments regularly interact with external entities, such as job applicants, recruitment agencies, payroll providers, and benefits providers. Each of these interactions presents a potential entry point for cyber threats. For example, phishing attacks often disguise themselves as emails from job applicants, with malicious attachments or links that compromise security when opened. Many external interactions take place via video call which also introduces the risk of deepfake technology being used.
Reason 3: Insider threats
HR teams have access to sensitive employee information and sometimes even financial data. This access makes them a target for insider threats—both intentional and unintentional. Disgruntled employees, for example, may attempt to misuse their access.
Reason 4: Third-party risks
HR departments often work with third-party service providers for things such as payroll, benefits management, and recruitment. These service providers may have access to HR data, which means that their cybersecurity practices directly impact the organization’s security. If a third party is compromised, it could lead to a data breach that affects the HR department.
How can some of these threats be mitigated?
Decentralize sensitive data
We noted that one of the biggest reasons that HR are vulnerable to cyberattacks is their handling of highly sensitive employee data. To mitigate the risk of this data falling into the wrong hands, we need to find a way to better protect this data. Michael Marcotte suggests that HR should change how they store sensitive employee data. He advises HR to decentralise their storage data as holding it all in one location is simply too risky and too much of a lucrative target for hackers.
Implement training programmes
Many HR professionals are simply unaware of the rising cybersecurity threat and do not know how they can help protect their organisations. Developing and delivering training on this subject area will reduce the chance of successful cyber-attacks. As detailed in the HR Director, it’s a good idea to run simulated exercises so that employees can recognise signs of attack, be this deepfakes or phishing scams via email. Regularly conducting exercises which expose HR professionals to realistic scenarios will increase awareness so they can learn what to look out for. It’s important for any training programmes and simulation exercises to be regularly updated to keep up with the rapid developments in the cybersecurity landscape.
Devise an incident response plan
Changing the way data is handled and providing adequate training to HR professionals are great ways to help prevent a cybersecurity attack from occurring. However, even with these in place, it’s still possible for threats to slip through the net and attackers to successfully infiltrate. In this instance, an incident response plan ensures that HR can respond quickly and effectively to cyberattacks, minimizing downtime and financial loss.
As noted in Forbes, a comprehensive incident response plan should include the following key components: preparation, detection and analysis, containment, eradication, recovery and post-incident activity. To play their part in this, HR needs clear lines of reporting and communication up the company hierarchy. It’s increasingly important for HR to be in close communication with tech teams rather than siloed off so that in the case of an attack, information can be communicated across departments quickly.
Conclusion
HR departments play a critical role in managing a company’s most valuable resource – its people. However, this role comes with significant cybersecurity risks. The combination of handling sensitive data, interacting with external parties, managing multiple systems, and facing insider threats makes HR a prime target for cybercriminals.
To mitigate these risks, HR departments must prioritize cybersecurity, invest in regular training, reevaluate data storage practices, and work closely with IT to ensure robust security measures are in place. By understanding their vulnerabilities, HR professionals can take proactive steps to protect both their organization and its employees from the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats.
