A human firewall is a term used to describe people within an organization who follow best practices to prevent and report any data breaches or suspicious activity. It is a group of people who work towards detecting cyber attacks such as ransomware or phishing attacks that may bypass the computer security system. While firewalls and other technologies can be the bedrock of an organization’s cybersecurity program, they can’t protect everything. Many studies show that a large percentage of reported breaches include some element of human error. Therefore, building a human firewall is essential in a companys cybersecurity plan.
A human firewall is not a single person or "evangelist" but a line of defense people constitute to combat an organizations security threats. It is empowered through education and incentives, spanning teams, business functions, and technologies across an entire organization. A human firewall is all about making employees aware and able to protect themselves and the business against cyber attacks. To supplement cybersecurity efforts, employees should be trained on how to prevent data loss, identify malicious activities, and protect systems. Some responsibilities of a human firewall include learning and following basic cybersecurity practices, creating cybersecurity awareness among the people around them, offering defense against phishing and other types of data loss, and identifying data threats and controlling them before they cause adverse effects.
