In today’s cyberthreat landscape, protecting your business takes much more than the latest security solutions and a well-trained IT team. Just take a look at the data:
- Human errors cause 23% of data breaches1
- Over 35% of employees do not know about ransomware2
- Nearly 25% of employees have clicked on malicious links without confirming their legitimacy3
Cybercriminals can target your employees at any moment to gain access to sensitive business data. But if your employees receive regular security awareness training, their calculated decision-making and quick response can effectively block deceiving threats.
Clearly, the best cybersecurity defense takes a village. Through a combination of strong security policies, employee training, security software, and a dedicated IT team, you can successfully protect your business against cyberattacks.
Security Culture and Its Influence on Employees
Conducting a one-time employee training session for the sake of compliance isn’t enough. Through regular trainings, you can develop a security-focused culture within your business and make cybersecurity awareness second nature to your employees.
In turn, this nurtures positive security habits among employees. For example, the simple habit of locking one’s computer screen when leaving the workstation unattended can prevent data from being accessed by unauthorized users. Once you properly train your employees, they will be more aware of the business’ security policies and will realize that their employer’s cybersecurity is their responsibility as well.
Tips to Implement Effective Security Awareness Training
To create a security-focused culture, implementing a robust training schedule is crucial. Here are a few tips that can help:
1. Make the Training Sessions Interactive
Video is much more engaging than dry slide decks or written materials, so consider using high-quality video in your trainings. Add text content only as a complementary piece to the video, and ensure that the presentation is appealing to your employees so that they don’t miss out on important details. You’ll also want to provide opportunities for employees to ask questions during face-to-face discussions or virtual conversations with subject matter experts.
2. Break the training into smaller modules
Since the attention span of your employees will almost certainly vary from one to another, breaking training sessions into smaller modules will help them retain information faster and more completely. Regularly send training modules to your employees to ensure they are up to speed on the latest security topics.
3. Facilitate Self-Paced Learning
Give your employees the freedom to learn at their convenience. This, of course, does not mean deadlines should not be set. Just be sure to give your employees sufficient time to complete each training module based on its complexity.
4. Make Content Relevant and Accessible
Given how quickly the cyberthreat landscape is changing, you’ll want to regularly cull outdated information and update your modules to cover new threats and solutions. You should also take care to keep training material easy-to-understand. Avoid overly technical explanations and include examples so employees have no trouble applying it in daily work scenarios.
5. Conduct Reviews with Quizzes and Mock Drills
To assess your employees’ preparedness and encourage them to stay vigilant, test them regularly, including mock drills, to evaluate alertness based on their response to simulated scams.
Transform Your Weakest Link into Your Strongest Defense
Regular security awareness training can help develop a transformative security culture within your business, enabling your employees to detect and evade even the most sophisticated cyberthreats.
We understand that implementing robust security awareness training can be challenging. Our security experts are here to help. From building a cybersecurity plan to developing a security awareness curriculum to train your employees, we will partner with you to protect your business from cyberthreats. Contact us today to get started.
Sources:
1 IBM 2020 Cost of Data Breach Report
2 Opinion Matters Survey
3 Help Net Security Magazine
