Safety is one of Abraham Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs, and is a necessary aspect for all workplace environments to flow smoothly and for employees to feel comfortable. However, when Maslow created his pyramid, he meant for safety to be of the physical nature. Perhaps that’s because computers and internet were not really around back then.
Nowadays, however, it is crucial for employees to feel secure not just on a physical level, but also on a cyber level as well. Cybersecurity is one the most basic elements of safety and security that a workplace can provide for their employees.
The question is, how can companies go about this?
For starters, they can provide active software which protects against viruses and malware. There can be seemingly innocuous websites which are actually quite harmful – an employee could unknowingly download something harmful. And the result can be quite damaging: this employee’s information can be stolen, documents tampered with, and computers can be harmed.
One notorious virus is known as the Zepto virus, which demands ransom from people it inflicts. This
Zepto ransomware virus can be removed, and there many online guides for doing so, including the link in this very paragraph. This virus can be very harmful, and if contracted, is crucial to remove as soon as possible.
One of the worst viruses ever in the history of viruses and malware is probably the ironically titled virus called “I Love You” which infected a staggering 10% of all the world’s computers, and caused over $10 billion in
damages, to the point where governments across the globe were removing their sensitive databases and email systems to offline, so as not to get infected.
Another well known virus is called Stuxnet, which infiltrated the Iranian nuclear program. This was part of a stealth cyberwarfare campaign, in which the virus affected 20% of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges.
And although Mac computers are known for not being susceptible to viruses, there is one that got through, and it was called Flashback, and penetrated computers back in 2011. It was a Trojan horse virus, and succeeded in penetrating many Macs.
Physical safety is important, but cyber safety is becoming a huge issue for the 21st century.
