It means closing and locking doors, preventing tailgating (when someone slips in behind you without you knowing), never allowing someone to borrow your credentials, locking workstations when not in use, and maintaining strong, unique passwords for every account and every device.

When traveling or working remotely, keep an eye on your personal belongings, stay alert for shoulder surfers, and use discretion when accessing or discussing highly sensitive information in public. I f you see an unfamiliar person in an area normally reserved for authorized personnel, or notice a secured door left open, don’t ignore it! Maintain a clean desk so as not to lose sensitive materials and shred those materials when no longer needed.

A human firewall reads emails carefully, hovers over links to display the full URL, and treats all requests for sensitive data with skepticism.

You help prevent security events and control the input and output of sensitive information by exhibiting these five traits. The security of your organization depends upon you, the human firewall.

What is human firewall