A key role in Human Resources departments is, quite simply, to manage employees. This involves everything from recruitment to retirement and everything in between. HR is tasked with managing all records on each and every employee, which includes some extremely sensitive information. This, in itself, should be a dead giveaway as to why cybersecurity is so important in any employee management system you utilize, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s look at cybersecurity as it relates to HR software and you will find some other, perhaps unexpected, reasons why this should be a huge concern and area of focus.
1. Malicious Chatbots
A good employee management system is grounded in communications. This makes it easy to keep track of employees without all those time-consuming and costly meetings. If an employee has a question, they can send a message off to HR and the reverse is also true. Some hackers have developed chatbots that trick employees into thinking they are communicating with HR. These bots have links that once clicked can embed malicious code on the employer’s system. Anything and everything from personal employee information to company and customer financial information can be obtained this way, which could have very serious consequences.
2. Internal Threats
This is another leading threat in employee management systems. If proper care isn’t given to levels of access, unauthorized access is easy to gain. A leading threat to hacks in businesses today, believe it or not, comes from within an organization. It is imperative that the employee management system you install allows for granting levels of access based on position and trust. Called “Insider Threats,” the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, ICAEW, states that this is one of the leading threats to a breach in data in the UK as well as around the globe. Selling company information is a serious cyberthreat and one which should be taken seriously. Not only are financials at risk but so too is Intellectual Property.
3. Mobile Devices
If your mobile workforce has been issued a mobile device through which they access your employee management system, beware! You might ask why they would need to access HR’s software and perhaps the best answer would be timekeeping. A mobile workforce must be able to account for where they are at any point in the day and each task or appointment is probably set up within a given timeframe in terms of cost-effective operations. Mobile devices are easier than you might imagine to hack, so strong cybersecurity is recommended for both the device and your mainframe.
These are just three of the leading cyberthreats you will need to contend with, and each threat is growing stronger by the day. You have seen the damage to businesses that just one hack can cause, so it’s imperative to take cybersecurity very seriously. You have the leading employee management system on the market. Isn’t it time to take the appropriate steps to protect all the information that the system holds? Cybertheft is one of the greatest threats that businesses face today, so take appropriate steps to build a solid, unhackable armor for your company.
