Cybersecurity accessibility is usually the second thought for businesses. The UK National Cybersecurity Center is urging businesses to change that by making cybersecurity accessibility a priority. You might be wondering why? It can beef up the security of your cybersecurity systems while helping you ensure compliance.
Despite these advantages, it is common to see cybersecurity being presented in an inaccessible way. If your business cybersecurity is inaccessible and you want to fix it then, this article is for you.
Table of Contents
7 Things That Make Your Cybersecurity Inaccessible
1. Poorly Formatted Cybersecurity Training and Awareness
2. Complex User Interface
3. Wrong Color Choices To Indicate Risks
4. Neglecting Security Accessibility Features
5. No Compatibility With Accessibility Technology
6. Lack of Info On Error Recovery
7. Absence of Feedback Mechanism For Error Messages
7 Things That Make Your Cybersecurity Inaccessible
Here are seven things that can negatively impact your cybersecurity accessibility.
1. Poorly Formatted Cybersecurity Training and Awareness
One of the most common complaints employees have about cybersecurity is that the cybersecurity training and awareness materials are written in a hard to comprehend language. What’s even worse is that they are formatted wrongly. This makes it almost impossible for employees to understand the basic cybersecurity concepts. Due to this, they continue to make mistakes that make them a soft target for cybersecurity attackers.
Rewrite all the cybersecurity training materials with accessibility in mind. You can feel the difference once you make the necessary changes to your training materials. Your training program will be much more effective than it used to be in the past. At the end of the day, it is a win-win situation for the business. Yes, rewriting cybersecurity awareness and training materials will take a lot of resources but it will pay rich dividends later down the line.
2. Complex User Interface
Advanced cybersecurity tools are packed with features. If you are using one of them, you know what I mean. The problem starts from the complex user interface. As soon as an employee sees the screen loaded with features, it overwhelms them and puts them off.
That is why you see most employees stop using these cybersecurity tools due to the steep learning curve attached to it. There is no point in investing in the latest and greatest cybersecurity tool when nobody is going to use it. Opt for a cybersecurity solution that contains features you need but have a user friendly interface so that your employees can easily use it.
3. Wrong Color Choices To Indicate Risks
Minor details like colors to indicate cybersecurity risks are usually ignored but these small things can make a huge difference. Using the wrong color to indicate threats can force employees into downplaying the severity of risk which can put your business into hot waters.
Make sure that all the threats are labeled correctly both visually and textually so that employees know how critical a particular threat actually is. This allows them to take the right action instead of ignoring the threat altogether. You can even hire website protection services for added security.
4. Neglecting Security Accessibility Features
With cybersecurity accessibility not being the top priority for businesses, it is common to see businesses disable or ignore the accessibility features that come preloaded with their cybersecurity solutions. This could happen both intentionally or unintentionally.
In both cases, it is not good for employees who are using these tools as it makes their job more difficult. Enable all these accessibility your cybersecurity solutions have so users can easily take full advantage of the true potential of your cybersecurity tools.
5. No Compatibility With Accessibility Technology
Just like accessibility features, accessibility technologies and especially their compatibility with your cybersecurity tools are rarely discussed. As a result, your cybersecurity tools could not be integrated with these accessibility technologies. In some cases, the cybersecurity solution might support accessibility technology integration but the business doesn’t even realize that they can perform this integration to achieve better accessibility.
This usually happens due to ignorance and negligence on part of businesses. It can easily be fixed if you make cybersecurity accessibility a top business priority. With spotlight on cybersecurity accessibility, you are less likely to miss out on these assistive technologies that can make a world of difference to the usability of your cybersecurity tools.
6. Lack of Info On Error Recovery
An error pops up on your screen but you don’t know what to do about it. We all have been there. This happens due to lack of error recovery options and lack of employee awareness regarding how to recover from errors. Once you provide adequate training to your employees regarding error recovery, you can easily help them fix minor issues on their own.
This also reduces the burden from the shoulders of the IT and cybersecurity team. Since your cybersecurity teams are already working overtime and are understaffed, this would provide them with much needed relief. They enable them to focus on more value centric tasks instead of just focusing on fixing mundane errors.
7. Absence of Feedback Mechanism For Error Messages
What if you get an error message that does not tell you anything? How can you figure out what is the main problem and how to fix it? You can’t, right. Absence of feedback mechanisms especially for error messages can make things worse. Write a short but descriptive error message which makes it easy for employees to understand the type of error and what course of action they can take to fix it.
Which factor is negatively impacting your cybersecurity accessibility? Share it with us in the comments section below.
Encourage cooperation between the public, corporations, government organizations, and educational institutions. Create unambiguous channels of communication for the exchange of cybersecurity knowledge and best practices. Promote the creation of public-private partnerships so that we can all work together to address cybersecurity issues.
We may endeavor to make cybersecurity more inclusive and accessible for everyone by tackling these issues. To achieve this, cooperation, education, awareness, and user-friendly solutions are essential.
Communicate about cybersecurity in plain English and with simplicity. To aid individuals in understanding important ideas, provide FAQs, glossaries, and educational materials.