Security awareness training helps organizations worldwide reduce cybersecurity risks by building vital threat resilience and creating a strong culture of security awareness.
What is security awareness training?
Security awareness training is the practice of educating employees, contractors, partners and other stakeholders about ways they can protect sensitive information from cyber threats. In addition, this process informs students how to keep various systems, networks, online accounts and other digital assets safe from online threats and hackers.
Why is security awareness training important?
Security awareness training helps organizations reduce the risks associated with the human side of cybersecurity and build a strong culture of security awareness across business units. To achieve this, CISOs and other security leaders devise and design risk-based awareness training programs that target unsafe behaviors, such as clicking a phishing link or downloading a malicious file attachment.
By implementing a security awareness program, organizations strengthen information security and safeguard sensitive data, such as personal data or personally identifiable information (PII), intellectual property (IP) and access to confidential accounts (such as bank accounts) away from unauthorized eyes. Awareness training can also ensure that employees comply with industry or local data privacy regulations, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
As organizations improve their security awareness training model, they often see a sharp reduction in cybersecurity costs, as well as a positive impact on their productivity, revenue generation and brand reputation.
Does security awareness training work?
Because all cyber attacks are rooted in the manipulation of human behavior, security awareness training is the most effective tool to protect your sensitive information from hackers. By giving employees the knowledge to identify and report known threats, organizations minimize the possibility of a breach that could compromise their data.
However, effective security awareness training has its foundation in effective planning. Organizational security awareness professionals must define clear cybersecurity objectives, the metrics they will use to evaluate performance, and define actionable strategies to achieve or even exceed their aspirations. Improving employee participation in training and increasing the completion rate of training seminars among participants should also be considered.
According to their results Gone Phishing Tournament to 2021, one in five end users click on suspicious links in phishing emails. Of those who clicked, three quarters compromised their data. By implementing dynamic security awareness training options, organizations can avoid extensive downtime, lost revenue, and other inevitable consequences of a data breach.
What should a security awareness program include?
The best safety awareness solutions combine a variety of different learning activities to provide engaging, informative and fun (yes, on-the-job training can and should be fun!). Common elements of the training program include (but are not limited to): online courses, quizzes, interactive modules, phishing simulations and ongoing communication campaigns.
Security awareness program topics vary depending on the organization’s goals and maturity level. However, it is important to cover a solid range of security awareness basics such as phishing, social engineering, ransomware, malware, email security and password best practices. A solid knowledge base will go a long way in knowledge retention and improve your employees’ performance in phishing simulations.
How to implement security awareness training?
The goal of security awareness training is more than meeting compliance standards or “checking” corporate mandates and regulations off a checklist. Organizations must strive to build this vital resilience against cyber threats, based on intelligence and data based on real scenarios, and using this momentum, promote an internal culture that prioritizes the formation of awareness of ongoing security.
To get the most out of your training program, you must correctly implement each component and connect it to a larger information security vision. For most security awareness groups, a successful implementation will look like the following process:
Basic phishing test
To accurately assess the initial security awareness of end users, conduct an initial mock test of basic (phishing) e-mails. The results of this exercise enrich the security awareness report with the information needed to create a focused, risk-based training strategy.
Planning by experts and support by executive bodies
Before starting any awareness training initiative, it is vital to get the buy-in of the executive bodies. This process can be significantly facilitated by leveraging evidence-based insights based on key security awareness reports and industry expertise, such as Terranova Security’s internal CISO resources.
Interesting and multilingual educational content
To maximize the return on investment of your training program, your security awareness content must be engaging, informative and, above all, provide a fun learning experience for all participants. Make sure you offer educational content in a variety of modules, formats and languages, which will allow you to benefit from increased engagement, reduced risk and behavioral change.
Phishing training modules
Every organization needs a secure way to educate their employees about real-world threats and put into practice any cybersecurity knowledge they’ve learned. This is precisely why phishing simulations are a key component to the success of security awareness. They can also allow your organization to evaluate the effectiveness of the training content and make sure that you are always targeting the right behavior change.
Reinforcement tools
To support your awareness training initiatives with consistent, effective messages and learning opportunities, reinforcement and communication tools are essential. From newsletters and Infographics to videos, web banners and more, these elements help keep participation and engagement rates high while emphasizing key cybersecurity issues in the corporate environment.
Dynamic reports in real time
With the right analytics and reporting infrastructure in place, data-driven decision making through an in-depth security awareness report or console is simple. By applying a creative and reporting experience to the unique needs and goals of your organization, you will be able to immediately see and summarize the results of lessons and simulations, and improve your program in the long term.