To mitigate the risks, it is critical for HR professionals to understand their responsibilities before a cybercriminal strikes. Many employers aren't even aware of the enormous security risks their organizations face or the best strategies to protect employee data. Here are four:

Know the risks, have a plan

Financial information is what comes to mind most frequently when businesses consider where breach risks exist, but that thinking is too narrow. It overlooks the incredible value inherent in employee data. Not only does financial information lurk within HR's employment records in the form of salary histories and bank routing numbers used for automatic deposits, but standard consumer data is also present.

Full names, birth dates, addresses and social security numbers exist in every employee's file. Health and benefit data may be present, too, such as carrier names, subscriber numbers or details on beneficiaries and dependents.

And where there's smoke, there's fire. The same servers and systems that host employee and customer data likely hold data pertaining to trade secrets, M&As, business plans and more. All the more reason to get your company's cyber strategy in gear.

Employers must be concerned with two types of data breaches: Those that are the result of a purposeful act, such as a hacker or a malicious insider, and those that occur by accident. Lost laptops and cell phones are a common example of inadvertent exposure.

Each type of breach represents a different risk profile and each requires its own mitigation measures. A two-pronged approach to breach prevention marries technology and best practices, enabling employers to address existing security gaps while also providing improved protection for employee data.

Deploying technology tools to safeguard sensitive information keeps employers in line with duty of care laws and other breach regulations.

Employers have a range of solutions to choose from and should tailor their approach based on their network and infrastructure architecture, information vulnerable to exposure, the volume of data that must be protected, resource availability — from funding to staffing — and regulatory guidelines or compliance mandates.

Encryption is a perfect example of a technology that is relatively simple, but still enormously effective when it comes to securing employee data. Free and low-cost encryption platforms are available and can help to protect confidential information from unauthorized access even if a hardware item (thumb drive, laptop, etc.) falls into the wrong hands.

Other technology tools may also be appropriate depending on the employer's needs, including firewalls, mobile device management software and multi-factor authentication to protect access to more sensitive systems.

Security best practices are the second half of a successful data protection strategy. These protocols largely deal with the ways humans interact with the organization's information and they also cover what to do in the event of a breach. Employers will want to manage network and data access in a way that limits who is able to view and change employee information.

Methodologies for storing, processing, analyzing, archiving and destroying employee data should be documented in detail and anyone responsible for those tasks must be trained on the organization's security practices.

An incident response plan is another best practice employers should include under the data security umbrella. This doesn't need to an exhaustive plan, but it should outline the steps employees are to take if they suspect a breach has occurred — everything from blocking access to compromised servers to contacting the IT department. 

A strong plan can significantly limit the potential harm to an employee whose data was exposed. And as risks evolve, so should the incident response plan – it should be a living, breathing part of a comprehensive cyberstrategy with routine reviews.

Retain the right expertise

Another concern often faced by employers, particularly smaller organizations where internal resources are lean, is poor insight into the evolving cyberthreat environment and the latest data protection strategies.

Efforts to craft, deploy and maintain an effective privacy and security program are more difficult when industry expertise is lacking. Without a strong understanding of where security vulnerabilities exist, or which new threat vectors are likely to be of concern, employers could find themselves directing their limited resources in too many directions and without results.

Because many breach scenarios involve little or no technology — hard copies of completed enrollment forms accidentally left in a shared conference room, for example — simply turning responsibility for data privacy over to IT isn't going to work. Employers must seek guidance from someone experienced in all forms of data protection.

Continuously educate the front line

Employees themselves may pose potential security challenges, so continuous training is essential. Companies should consider implementing educational sessions about new scams and privacy and security refreshers as part of annual compliance training.

By partnering with employees to help protect data, the organization can maximize its technology investment and ensure that everyone is committed to a security culture.

Social engineering schemes are increasingly popular among hackers, effectively turning the workforce into either an employer's first line of defense or its greatest weakness.

The most recent spoof comes courtesy of a company's top executive — or so the scammer wants you to think. An employee will receive a request from the CEO — either by way of a hacked email account or an email address that closely resembles the real thing — to cough up documents, usually W-2s. With a few clicks, countless data about a company's employees has been exposed.

Employees should be trained that if they see something, say something.

Identity management

Along with taking appropriate security measures internally, employers may also consider offering identity-related benefits to employees. These packages bring a powerful suite of tools to the table that provide workers with proactive education and reactive support. Informational resources teach individuals how to spot corrupt websites and suspicious e-mail links.

The plans give details on what to look for when conducting annual credit report reviews. And workers concerned their personal data may have been exposed — whether at work or through a health care provider, retailer or other avenue — have access to identity theft experts able to help them navigate the resolution process.

A fraud team can assist them in replacing important documents that may have been lost due to theft, fire or flood. They can even monitor known black market websites to see if an employee's stolen data is being used fraudulently.

Together, these strategies give employers a way to keep employees' information safe while providing workers with assurances that they'll have the support they need if the worst should happen.