A CISO’s Guide to Security Awareness Training for Employees

Security is everyone’s responsibility and when it comes to an organization’s security, every member is responsible for ensuring good cyber hygiene. Well, the only way to do this is by providing effective security awareness training for employees. So, the million dollar question is "what is cyber security awareness training?".

The objective of cyber security awareness training is to equip the members of an organization with the knowledge they need to defend themselves and their organization against the risk of cyber attacks. This training provides your employees with vital information about all the prevalent and emerging attack vectors being used by the cyber criminals and what they can do to avoid these threats.

Why Cyber Security Awareness Training?No matter how many security mechanisms and protocols you implement, your organization will be vulnerable to cyber attacks if your employees aren’t vigilant. In fact, according to Allianz Risk Barometer 2021, cyber security incidents are ranked third amongst the top business risks in 2021. For eliminating human error and mitigating the risk of cyber attacks, providing cyber security awareness training for employees is the way to go. Your employees need to be cyber aware in order to respond to attack attempts in the right way.

As cyber crime is rising at an unprecedented rate, it has become essential to take every measure you can for protecting your organization against cyber attacks. Creating an impenetrable human firewall as the last line of defence is the smartest move you can make. Here are some statistics that reflect the importance of cyber security awareness training.

As per the IBM Cyber Security Intelligence Index Report, 95% of all cyber security breaches are a result of human error.

2020 State of Privacy and Security Awareness Report by Osterman Research mentioned that 43% of employees are unaware that opening an unknown attachment or clicking on a suspicious link can cause a malware infection. According to the same report by Osterman Research, 39% of employees are unsure if they can identify a social engineering attack.

As per FAU researchers, 78% of people are aware of the risks of unknown links in emails and yet they click on them anyway.

According to a report by Business Wire, 97% of the users are unable to recognize a sophisticated phishing email.

How to Conduct a Successful Cyber Security Awareness Training Program?While conducting cyber security awareness training for employees, it is vital to make sure that it is done right. The quality of your training program determines just how much your employees learn and retain. When it comes to choosing what kind of security awareness training program you should go for, it is wise to select one that is just as engaging as it is informative.

Various companies go about training their employees in different ways. Some organize long seminars while the others take periodic quizzes and assessments. However, there is nothing more effective than cyber attack simulation. In addition to training your employees, cyber attack simulation also helps in assessing your organization’s threat posture.

Cyber attack simulation not only allows you to test your defenses under real-world conditions but also helps you gain deep insights into how vulnerable the human aspect of your security framework is. Launching real-time hacking attacks on your employees provides them with first-hand experience in facing these cyber threats in the real world. After all, practical learning is always more effective than theoretical knowledge!

Originally posted at: https://threatcop.ai/blog/a-cisos-guide-to-security-awareness-training-for-employees/