Think of all the ways that you physically secure your business. Do you lock your doors? Set an alarm system? Maybe have security guards patrolling your business property? You take all these measures to ensure your goods, money, and proprietary information are safe from burglars.
Your cyber security should be no different. You need multiple layers of security—from firewall protection to email security, anti-malware, and other security tools—to protect your business data from cybercriminals.
And just like you train your team to lock the doors and set the alarm before leaving for the day, you need to educate employees with security awareness training. But how do you get this training content, and how do you know if it actually works? Luckily, we make it easy for small businesses in the Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg areas to implement security awareness training programs with the results you can see.
What Is Security Awareness Training?
Since employees are typically the weakest link and last line of defense in cybersecurity at most organizations, a formal process for learning about these topics is crucial. Cybersecurity awareness training programs educate employees on various topics related to potential risks and threats to the organization’s network. Short, interactive lessons are automatically sent to your employees each month. The quick training videos and subsequent quizzes provide positive reinforcement and even gamification while still educating your employees.
A cybersecurity training awareness program can help reduce human error and train employees on new and evolving threats. Social engineering, ransomware attacks, and phishing attempts are part of the lessons of fully managed programs. Educating employees to recognize threats can help mitigate cyber security risks at organizations.
A successful cybersecurity awareness training program can also reduce the time and money your organization spends cleaning up malware and ransomware that may lead to a data breach. Additionally, you can monitor user behavior through phishing simulations, which helps to reinforce the effective new of a successful program.
How Often Should You Conduct Cyber Security Awareness Training?
Some companies do annual training for cyber awareness, but smaller, more frequent cybersecurity training is better. Because emerging threats appear daily, you can rest assured that your team is informed about the latest security risks.
Not only that, but it also helps to raise awareness of cyber-attacks and keep information security a top priority at your business. Additionally, more frequent training helps encourage behavior change to reduce the number of potential human errors your team may commit. For example, if cybersecurity training is top-of-mind, an employee who receives a suspicious email may avoid clicking a potentially dangerous link. In this instance, awareness training may have successfully thwarted a phishing attack.
What’s the ROI on Providing Cyber Awareness Training?
The ROI of your cyber awareness training can vary depending on many factors. But when employees take proper training, it can reduce your team’s susceptibility to phishing attacks by 80%. And when you consider that email is responsible for 91% of all cyber-attacks, your business will be better off anytime you can reduce your organization’s security risk in that area.
Osterman Research built a cost model based on survey data and various assumptions to determine the ROI of effective cybersecurity training modules. They found that a small business with less than 100 employees can experience a return on investment of 69% after a security awareness training program. Larger businesses may see as much as 562% ROI for their information security training efforts.
What Are Simulated Phishing Attacks?
Do you remember learning and practicing stop, drop, and roll in school? Or huddling outside around a flagpole during a fire drill? These tests help students practice what to do during an emergency. In the same way, simulated phishing attacks help employees practice what to do when faced with a potential threat.
Simulated phishing attacks are another critical component of security awareness training. In addition to the monthly training lessons, employees may face a simulated attack. A fake phishing email will be sent to their inbox to see if they can be fooled into clicking a link. A successful training program, like the one we offer from Password Watchdog, will help the employee identify the phishing attempt and delete the email.
If they click on the link, your organization will be notified so that you know which employees need more educational content to help your business stay safe.
Remember that phishing emails can appear legitimate. The hacker may create a fake email that looks like it came from the president of your company. This type of email is designed to trick the user into giving away usernames, passwords, credit card information, and other sensitive data. Your team can delete the potential threat when they know how to identify these emails.
Can’t I Send My Team a Cyber Security Article to Read?
Cybersecurity awareness content, like the article you’re reading, is a fantastic way to educate your employees. However, how do you know if your team is reading the article and not just skimming it? Even if it’s marked on their timesheet, that doesn’t necessarily mean they learned anything. Plus, some people’s learning styles may make it difficult to absorb the information from a written article.
But with interactive training modules, you’ll know that your team is learning best practices. The video training is interesting and appeals to various learning styles, and the quiz at the end helps ensure that your employees learn something.
How Will I Know if My Training Program Is Working?
Are you one of the 30,000 websites that get hacked daily? No? Then your training program is likely working. But there are other ways to know if your cybersecurity awareness training works. Here are a few examples:
- What are your employees saying about the training? Are they learning something each month? How difficult is it to complete the training? Getting feedback from your employees is a great way to know how effective your training is.
- How many employees click on the simulated phishing exercises? If only a few or none, you know the cyber security training is working.
- Have the number of security incidents decreased since implementing training? Record how often your IT company has to deal with malware, ransomware, and other issues before and after the training. If the number decreases, you’ll better understand how effective your training is.
- Are all employees participating in the monthly training? You’ll receive reports that detail how many of your employees are taking the training and even identify who may need extra training.
Is It Hard to Implement a Cyber Security Awareness and Training Program?
A robust security awareness training program is easy to implement at your business. All you have to do is call us, and we’ll set you up with Password Watchdog. This program protects businesses like yours in Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg, from hackers stealing your passwords and provides monthly security training for your staff. There are also quizzes and simulated phishing tests to ensure your security awareness training works.
Get in touch with our experienced team today to schedule a consultation. Don’t let your business be one of the 64% of organizations worldwide that have experienced at least one cyberattack. Instead, get Password Watchdog and keep your business safe from hackers.