How confident are you in keeping your business and customers safe from cyber threats?
Now is a good time to brush up on cybersecurity tips for you and your employees. By promoting cybersecurity awareness in your workplace, you can help protect your most valuable data and your hard-earned reputation.
What is cybersecurity awareness?
Cybersecurity awareness is both a mindset and a set of practices oriented toward recognizing potential threats and assessing the security risks of your computer system.
It starts with recognizing that security threats are not limited to big companies. Regardless of the size of your business, cybersecurity awareness training can improve your resilience to attacks and help protect against data breaches and other security incidents.
What is cybersecurity awareness training?
Many businesses use Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October to train their employees. Training is designed with several interrelated goals in mind, including:
- Educating employees on potential threats
- Reminding employees of the company's security procedures
- Updating the business on the latest security threats
- Evaluating the company's readiness to respond to cybersecurity incidents
Even small businesses can use security awareness training to promote online safety and protect the company and its customers from threats.
Cybersecurity awareness topics
Cybersecurity education covers a range of topics and changes as online risks change. Programs often focus on the following.
Social engineering and AI-enabled impersonation
Social engineering attacks try to manipulate people into revealing sensitive information or financial data. Phishing is a common form. Cybercriminals may impersonate a utility provider, customer, colleague, or other business, using AI-generated audio or video or an email address that resembles a real one. Attempts also arrive by voice call, social media, and text message, and many involve vendor impersonation.
Pause on unexpected payment, credential, or sensitive-data requests. Verify through a known, separate channel, not by replying or using contact details in the message. Accounting firms weighing what AI changes for client relationships can find more in this guide on AI and the client relationship.
Security incident response
Employees should know what to do when a suspected breach occurs. If someone clicks a suspicious link, shares a verification code, or approves an unexpected payment, they should report it immediately through designated security channels. Prompt reporting gives responders a chance to limit impact. Make reporting easy and non-punitive, and practice the response plan so employees know where to turn.
Why cybersecurity awareness training matters for employees
A few simple safeguards can help keep important data secure and accessible. Benefits of training include:
- Equipping employees to recognize external cybersecurity threats
- Reducing the risk of human error when employees handle sensitive data
- Promoting a clear understanding of security protocols and a culture built on safety
- Adapting to changes in the threat environment
Training can help reduce risks associated with human error, but it cannot eliminate cyber risk. Regular reinforcement helps employees apply security practices as threats and tools change.
The financial and reputational cost of cyberattacks
Even a small security incident can be costly. Verizon's 2026 Breach Impact Study, which analyzed about 70,000 cyber insurance claims, estimated a median impact of roughly $38,000 per claim for small and midsize businesses and $96,000 for mid-market companies. Because the figures come from insurance claims, they may not capture all of the costs of an incident.
Third parties matter too. Verizon's 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report found that third parties were involved in 48% of breaches, which is a reason to review who has access to your systems and data.
Money is just one strand of the impact. Incidents can also damage your reputation, which can be much harder to repair. Existing customers may struggle to trust a company that exposed their information, and new customers may hesitate if they know about a past incident. Training takes time, but protecting your brand from lasting reputational harm matters.
7 cybersecurity awareness tips
You and your employees can stay safer online by learning a few simple habits. These tips are useful for business and for anyone using the internet.
1. Keep your software up to date
The first step toward combating cybercrime is keeping software up to date, known as patching. Install updates promptly, especially security updates, to address known vulnerabilities. Turn on automatic updates where appropriate, and include supported applications and operating systems (such as Windows or iOS). Updates are one layer of protection, not a guarantee against malware or unsafe websites.
2. Use a unique password and multi-factor authentication
Use a unique, strong password for each account, and turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for email, financial, and other sensitive accounts. Choose a phishing-resistant method when one is available. Passphrases, several words that make sense to you, are easier to remember and harder to guess. Do not share a password or one-time verification code in response to an unexpected request. MFA adds protection, but it does not make an account impossible to compromise.
3. Learn to identify suspicious emails and websites
Cyberattacks often target employees, using techniques that encourage clicks on email attachments or visits to malicious websites. Treat unexpected links, attachments, QR codes, calendar invites, and download prompts with caution. A browser warning is a reason to stop, but the absence of a warning or a secure-connection indicator does not prove a site or request is legitimate. Navigate to known websites directly.
For payment requests, verify changes to vendor details, such as bank account information, through multiple channels and not by email alone. This guide to preventing accounts payable fraud covers common schemes.
4. Use reputable security software
Use centrally managed endpoint protection to help safeguard laptops, phones, servers, and other connected devices from cyberattacks, data theft, and unauthorized access. Keep it updated, but treat it as one layer of a broader security plan, not the first or only line of defense. Patching, backups, access controls, MFA, and prompt reporting also matter. No antivirus product catches all threats.
5. Limit access to sensitive information
Your company data is a valuable asset. Classify your data and limit the number of people who can reach the most sensitive information. Restrict customer or client details to those who need them, and review access permissions regularly. Lock your devices when you step away, and keep track of company property outside the office.
In finance workflows, approval workflows and accounts payable controls can limit who enters, approves, and pays bills.
6. Conduct regular cybersecurity awareness training
Provide baseline training at least annually, then reinforce it throughout the year with threat updates, reminders, and practical exercises. Include a clear, easy way to report suspicious messages or mistakes.
7. Remember that information security is a process
Review security practices as your business, tools, and threats change. Train new hires, revisit access and response procedures, and confirm that employees know how to report a suspected incident promptly. Periodic accounts payable audits and regular account reconciliation can help surface irregularities, and the BILL learning center has more on finance basics.
BILL is designed with your privacy and security in mind
Your team's habits are one layer of protection, and your financial tools are another. BILL's security controls include multiple layers that help guard against payment fraud and help reduce the risk of unauthorized account access. They include:
- AI defenses: In FY25, BILL's AI defenses stopped over 8 million attempted fraud attacks, with a potential financial exposure of more than $53 billion.1
- Check safeguards: BILL applies Positive Pay to reduce the risk of check fraud.
- Audits: BILL undergoes annual SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II audits.
BILL's AI can also flag a bill that looks unusual compared with a vendor's payment history so an approver can review it. A flag is not a finding of fraud, and these features support approval controls rather than replace them.
Explore BILL's security page to see the controls and safeguards available to your business.
Accounting firms can read a security protections guide for accounting firms.
Frequently asked questions
When is Cybersecurity Awareness Month?
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is held annually in October. The month is designed to raise awareness of online security for individuals and businesses. Many businesses dedicate October to additional security training or cyber-awareness events to help employees understand the need to protect themselves against external threats.
Who created Cybersecurity Awareness Month?
It began in 2004 as a US initiative by the National Cybersecurity Alliance and the Department of Homeland Security. The National Cybersecurity Alliance and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) continue to promote it, and it has grown into a global program.
How often should employees get cybersecurity awareness training?
Provide baseline training at least annually, then reinforce it throughout the year. Short threat updates, reminders, and practical exercises help employees apply what they learned as threats change. Train new hires promptly, and revisit procedures when tools or roles change.
What should an employee do after clicking a suspicious link?
Report it immediately through your organization's designated security channel. Do not wait to confirm harm, because fast reporting helps responders limit impact. Specific escalation contacts depend on your organization's incident process.
Disclosures
1Based on BILL internal risk management data for FY25.
BILL and its affiliates do not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on, for tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction. BILL assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies or inconsistencies in the content. While BILL has made every attempt to ensure that the information contained in this site has been obtained from reliable sources, BILL is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. All information in this site is provided "as is", with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied. In no event shall BILL, its affiliates or parent company, or the directors, officers, agents or employees thereof, be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance on the information in this site or for any consequential, special or similar damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
