The 10 essential cyber security training issues for your employees

Do you know what the biggest threat is to your company’s cyber security? I’ll give you a hint. It’s not the middle-aged man in yesterday’s John Oliver video.

It’s your employees. Cyber attacks target the weakest link, and more often than not that weak is your employees.

According to CFO magazine, nearly half of all data breaches result from careless employees. Whether it’s an employee using a company-issued laptop on an unsecured wifi network, or an employee losing a password-unprotected iPhone, your employees present the greatest risk to the security of your company’s network and data.

What can you do about it? Train your employees. They need to understand the risk of their carelessness, and the steps they can take to mitigate that risk.

Here are 10 issues about which you should be training your employees right now to limit your company’s cyber exposure.

The best argument you’ll hear on why you must train your employees on cyber security

This fake Apple ad, from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, is the best argument you will hear on why training your employees on cyber security is perhaps the most important thing you can do for your business in 2016.

Come back tomorrow, when I’ll discuss the 10 cyber-security issues about which you should be training your employees right now.

Video killed the lawsuit star

If a picture tells a thousand words, then how many does a video tell?

Last week, the 6th Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a retaliation claim based on a video of an altercation that the plaintiff claimed she had not started.

WIRTW #404 (the “home is where is art is” edition)

We just added this piece of art to our home.

This particular painting is special to our family. If you look closely…

The artist, Anthony Kleem, likes to include friends and family in his paintings, and he happens to love our kids. How could we not buy it?

Here’s the rest of what I read this week:

Discrimination

• HR 101: Temporary disabilities and the ADA — via Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
• Dilemma of the Month: When a Personal Matter Gets Professional — via Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
• Preventing Discrimination For Dummies! — via FisherBroyles
• Transgender Bathroom Access — via Employment Law Lookout
• Does my black face make me look more diverse? — via The Tim Sackett Project
• EEOC Continues Visible Stance on Sexual Orientation Discrimination Protection — via Currents

Social Media & Workplace Technology

• Top 7 Data Security Lessons for In-House Counsel — via In House
• “BYOD”—the pitfalls of bring-your-own-device policies — via Technology for HR
• Home Depot to pay nearly $20M over 2014 data breach that affected more than 40M customers — via ABA Journal Daily News
• Your Boss Cares About Your Health and Happiness—Really — via Fitbit Blog
• Emojis At Work: They’re Not the Enemy — via Blogging4Jobs

HR & Employee Relations

• Ohio Ranks In Top-10 for Small Business Climate — via Ohio Chamber Blog
• Amazon is using scare tactics to deter employee theft — via The Verge
• Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of employees? The Shadow knows. — via Robin Shea’s Employment & Labor Insider
• Employee Relations! — via Next Blog
• Don’t decide to fire that employee at the end of the day — via Mike Haberman’s Omega HR Solutions
• “When this happens firefighters are praised, but then disciplined.” — via Walter Olson’s Overlawyered
• March Madness in the Workplace: Boosting Morale or Legal Nightmare? — via ERC Insights Blog

Wage & Hour

• 2017 DOL Survey Coming on “Gig” Economy — via Joe’s HR and Benefits Blog
• In the Beginning… — via Compensation Cafe
• Unreported Working Lunches May Still Be Work Time — via Wage & Hour Insights
• Lawyers’ FLSA advice may be discoverable — via Employer Law Report

Labor Relations

• Big Labor’s $420 Million Political Advocacy Budget — via LaborPains.org
• BREAKING: CT Supreme Court Gives Employers Using Independent Contractors A Big Victory — via Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog
• The Battle Over the Status of Uber and Lyft Drivers Continues — via Labor Relations Today
• Employers Can’t Press Mute on Employee Solicitations at Work, NLRB Says — via The Employment Brief

OSHA & Workplace Safety

• New workplace safety and environmental crime initiative will use cross-enforcement — via HR Hero Line
• Injury and Illness Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements – Posting 300A — via OSHA Law Blog
• Eleventh Circuit Upholds OSHA Violation with Participating Supervisor — via OSHA Law Update

Does OSHA provide a defense for employee misconduct? It depends.

As the saying goes, you can’t teach stupid. No matter what safety measure you put in place, your employees will do stupid things at work, and sometimes they will get hurt.

Court rejects customer’s claims based on harassing Facebook posts by employees

Consider the following scenario. An employee makes offensive posts on his personal Facebook page about one of your customers, which include the following:

“I seen Maurice’s bougie ass walking kahului beach road … nigga please!”

A number of other employees comment on or like the post, including a comment to “run that faka over!!! lol.”

When the customer learns of the posts and comments, he complains. You investigate and fire the offending employees.

Case over, right? Not so fast. The customer sued the employer for negligence relating to its supervision, retention, and training of the offending employees.

The EEOC says, “Preventing Discrimination is Good Business”

Are you a small-business owner? Do you have problems understanding your obligations under the federal employment-discrimination laws? Then the EEOC is here for you.

Last week, the agency published a one-page face sheet, entitled, “Preventing Discrimination is Good Business” (available in English and 29 other languages, such as Amharic, Marshallese, or Tagalog … really).