A firewall is basic equipment in every company when it comes to IT security. They monitor and control incoming and outgoing data traffic and block unwanted connections that could be potentially dangerous.
In addition to this technical firewall, which is available in both hardware and virtual versions, it is essential to establish a so-called “human firewall” in the company.
In a company, the term “human firewall” refers to all employees who are trained to recognize cyber threats and are thus trained to deal with them, thereby preventing existentially threatening consequences for the company and thus for their workplace.
Over 42% of all cyberattacks can be traced back to ignorant employees - this figure makes it clear that even the best technical measures, be it a next-generation firewall or a state-of-the-art antivirus, will lose their effect if employees are not made aware at an organizational level.
In order to create an awareness of current cyber threats among employees, they should regularly, at least once a year, take part in security awareness training. For the reasons mentioned, these training measures are by no means a pastime or voluntary, they are even legally mandatory according to applicable laws such as GDPR or NIS 2.
Phishing is still one of the most common methods used by attackers to gain access to the network and steal confidential data. Through appropriate training, employees - and management is not exempt from this - learn to recognize suspicious emails and act accordingly instead of falling for the deception attempts and, above all, to resist manipulation attempts through social engineering.
One thing is clear: only if employees are familiar with the secure handling of sensitive data and know, for example, how data is to be handled and protected in accordance with legal requirements, how and why user access must be secured with complex passwords, will they also understand why certain IT security measures must be implemented in the company and what serious protection they offer.
