7 Tips For Security Awareness Training

Security Awareness Training is a key challenge for many organisations.

Often, the information security industries prioritise traditional technologies such as firewalls and anti-malware solutions. However, these technological defences provide a false sense of security that the perimeter is being defended.

Despite heavy investment in perimeter security, many organisations fail to consider that their employees are just as important as the technology they use to protect themselves against cyber threats. One single employee’s actions can totally circumvent these controls, causing devastating circumstances. Last year, the average cost of a data breach was $3.92 million, with 34% of data breaches involving internal actors.

In order to remediate the risks that arise from the human aspect of cyber security, Security Awareness Training seeks to influence real behaviour change and embed a cyber secure culture in organisations

As cyber attacks continue to increase in size, sophistication and cost, it is vital that employee training educates and empowers end users to change their behaviours and protect your organisation from potential risk.

Read more: 10 Common Security Awareness Mistakes to Avoid in 2020

7 Tips for Security Awareness Training

Start with CEO Leadership

Cyber security is everyone’s responsibility, but resilient organisations have strong CEO leadership. If the CEO is taking cyber security seriously, this will permeate throughout the organisation and help create a culture of enhanced cyber security awareness.

Know Your Organisational Tolerances

Taking time to properly identify the risks can help shape the messaging, delivery, and effective targeting of your cyber security awareness program.

Defend Your Information Assets

You need to determine what your most valuable information assets are, where they’re located, and who has access to them. Every asset should be classified (for example, public, private or confidential) and protected based on its value. Doing so is crucial when identifying risks and prioritising the areas that need to be defended.

Make It Engaging with Storytelling

Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to breathe life into your cyber security awareness campaign. Face it, cyber security can be a dry topic, but it’s vital you find ways to engage your staff if you want to positively impact behaviour within your organisation. The message is just too important to get lost in formal, corporate communications.

Update Your Policy Management

Policies are crucial in establishing boundaries of behaviour for individuals, processes, relationships and transactions within your organisation. They provide a framework of governance, identify risk and help define compliance, which is important in today’s increasingly complex regulatory landscape.

Start Preparing for a Data Breach Now

It’s no longer a matter of ‘if’ your organisation is going to be hacked, but ‘when’. You need to start preparing for the inevitable and put a plan in place that ensures appropriate and timely action when security is breached.

Automate your Security Awareness Training

Automate your entire 12-month Security Awareness Training and manage the appropriate delivery of key elements to the right audience at the right time. Having an automated approach to Security Awareness Training allows for the audit information to be recorded to support regulatory defence that could be required in the event of a breach or an audit. These elements should include a combination of tailored eLearning, critical policies, posters, relevant blogs, simulated phishing emails, risk assessments and surveys.

Further reading: 10 Ways to Improve Staff Cyber Security Awareness