The Weakest Link: Employee Cyber-Defense Behaviors While Working from Home

With the increase in the number of employees working remotely from home following the COVID-19 pandemic, cyberattacks have grown in quantity and strength. While companies invest tremendous resources in technical defense practices and protection tools, the main weak link is still the human factor. The current study aims to provide theoretical and empirical evidence of the antecedents that contribute to active cyber defense as well as cyber risk behaviors. Based on a sample of 338 employees who worked from home or on-site during and after COVID-19, we examined the effects of organizational training on employee defense behaviors. The results of the current study suggest that the workplace and the amount of confidence in the defense measures play an important role in contributing to cyber risk behavior. Therefore, it is crucial that managers raise employee awareness of the hazards and educate them on the different defense methods that they can apply.