Because humans are often the weakest link when it comes to cyber security, it is critically important to integrate employee security awareness training into your cyber security action plan. By educating employees on best practices, policies, procedures, popular attack methods and trends, organizations can significantly reduce their risk of a data breach.
Increasing your investment in cyber security awareness training can decrease the threat of a cyberattack by 45% to 70%. Common and effective employee training methods include:
- On-boarding – When a new employee joins your organization, immediately make them aware of cyber security best practices your organization requires. This will create a strong cyber security posture throughout the employee’s lifespan.
- Mock phishing exercises – Phishing attacks are one of the most common forms of social engineering that can harm businesses. By employing these exercises organizations can test their email platform and see how their employees would react in a real-life scenario.
- Webinars – Webinars on cyber security trends give employees a chance to ask questions and hear firsthand of the importance of keeping data secure. These interactive sessions empower employees with the information necessary to support the organization’s goal of protecting its sensitive data.
- Policy check surveys – Regularly testing the knowledge of employees is important to their understanding of company policies and procedures. These can identify and prioritize gaps that should be addressed in further employee training sessions. In addition, these surveys and their results will be important if your organization is audited or breached.
- Regularly discuss cyber security with employees – Make cyber security part of your workplace culture so that employees are regularly acting with the organization’s best interests in mind. Proactively address employee negligence as it is one of the top causes of security incidents.
- Incident response plan –Ensure employees are aware of their role in the company’s incident response plan. Practice this plan quarterly so in the event of a breach your organization can respond quickly and comprehensively to minimize the impact and associated costs.
- Onsite training – Providing face-to-face security awareness training on cyber best practices and company policies and procedures gives employees an opportunity to ask questions and learn from experienced personnel.
Proactively training employees before an information security incident is critical to protecting the future of your business. Create policies and guidelines that assume your company will be targeted by cybercriminals and make sure employees know the appropriate actions that are necessary to keep the company’s data safe. Implementing employee training in your organization at least quarterly is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to reduce cyber security risks.
For more information on employing training in your workplace, please contact us.
