Why business compliance training is now more important than ever

Posted 5 years ago

Since the beginning of March, the number of fraud and scams have increased by roughly 400%. The president of the European Commission has also warned that cybercrime has increased. Unfortunately, it’s clear to see fraudsters are using the Coronavirus outbreak to their advantage.

They follow us online and exploit our concerns about the coronavirus. Our fear becomes their business opportunity.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission

Action Fraud also reported:

Since February 2020, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has identified 21 reports of fraud where Coronavirus was mentioned, with victim losses totaling over £800k.

Action Fraud

Whilst it’s true that cyber criminals are capitalising on these already stressful times, there are many ways to ensure that it doesn’t affect your organisation.

In recent weeks we’ve seen the usage of our Business Compliance and Protection courses surge. Businesses are bringing their staff up to speed with things like GDPR, Cyber Security and Fraud Awareness in an effort to combat the increase in cybercrime and fraud.

Here is why training staff in these areas is important now, more than ever…

Fraud Awareness & Prevention

It doesn’t take a fool to become a victim of fraud. In fact, fraudsters have come a long way since the first ever phone call scam.

Often, they can target individuals through a number of platforms, including social media, email, SMS, phone calls, and other messaging services. With so many channels to be reached on, it can feel impossible to know who you are really talking to.

Luckily, there are ways that you can reduce the chances of falling victim to fraudulent activity.

In our Fraud Awareness & Prevention Training, we offer information on how to work towards compliance with the Fraud Act 2006, what you can do as both an employer and employee to prevent fraud, and how to report fraud in the right way and understand the need for a Fraud Policy.

Cyber Security

Working from home can mean that your employees have less protection when it comes to their cyber security. Cyber criminals are capitalising on this.

We’re living through a period where everybody is receiving types of emails and messages that they may not have ever seen before, and due to the seriousness of the current situation, we often feel obliged to follow up on these “strange” emails.

There are various ways that we can identify legitimate emails from the ones containing malware, and employees must be made aware of these best practices to ensure the safety of the individual and the organisation. It’s in both parties’ best interests.

Our Cyber Security Awareness Training has been designed for everyone to use. It helps users to understand how security breaches can occur and learn best cyber security practices, it offers them information on how to best prevent cyber attacks, and helps them to identify security weaknesses and strengthen them.

GDPR

Now that a large percentage of the population is working from home, it means that a lot of personal and sensitive information has been moved from secure offices to millions of homes across the UK. This can pose a threat to the safety of this data, so employers must educate their workforce on how to best protect this data.

Because the GDPR doesn’t just apply to digital data, there are several other factors that data handlers must consider when working at home. For example, with the increase in video conference calls, data handlers must ensure that there are no visible data records being caught by their camera or if physical data has been taken from the office, that it is kept secure.

Our Online GDPR Essentials Training course was designed for every level of employee and helps users to have a broader understanding of the regulations.

It helps users understand how the GDPR affects their role and what their data responsibilities are, and helps towards making them confident in handling data.