Cybersecurity awareness training for employees

Cybersecurity awareness training for employees must be integrated with the reality of the user and the specific needs of the company.

Most of these types of programs fail because they only overfly the problem and do not take into account the reality of the day-to-day of the workers.

Faced with this sterile way of proceeding, effective cybersecurity awareness will seek to change the behavior of the worker from a holistic approach.

If this topic interests you, stay tuned for this content, so let’s dig deeper into what cybersecurity awareness training for employees is, why it’s important and how you can implement it in your organization.

What is cybersecurity awareness training for employees?

Cybersecurity awareness training is a training designed to teach employees of an organization to detect and report cyber threats and what actions to take thanks to awareness.

This type of training program makes employees a strong line of defense against cyberattacks such as social engineering, which strengthens the security of the company.

Importance of cybersecurity awareness training for employees

Importance of cybersecurity awareness training for employees lies in building a security-conscious mindset in the company.

This helps reduce risk by allowing teams to have resources and tools to focus on the development of their projects. In addition, this awareness not only avoids stress, but also the stress linked to a cyberattack, something that ends up undermining their performance.

In other words, raising awareness about digital security helps companies to:

• Reduce human error, one of the vulnerabilities that cybercriminals exploit.
• Reinforce customer and partner trust.
• Avoid data breaches and downtime as a result of a cyberattack.
• Build an organizational culture that prioritizes cybersecurity.
• Help free up IT teams’ time so they can focus on big projects instead of engaging in frustrating “fire-extinguishing” activities.

In fact, cybersecurity awareness is so important that even one day is dedicated to remembering it: the Cyber Awareness Day. It is an annual event that promotes cybersecurity awareness. 

It encourages safe practices, educates people about the risks associated with the digital world, and conducts activities such as phishing simulations and other cyber threats, awareness campaigns, and fun and engaging events to test the public’s cybersecurity knowledge.

How to approach cybersecurity awareness for employees?

The approach to cybersecurity awareness for employees must be holistic, that is, analyze the problem comprehensively. Likewise, it must focus on 2 types of solutions: on the one hand, it must be defensive, to avoid danger; on the other hand, it must be reactive, so that teams know how to act once the attack has occurred to minimize the consequences.

Thus, it is usually articulated on 5 main axes:

1. Identify common threats so employees know how to detect smishing and phishing attacks, malware or ransomware or spoofing, as well as social engineering techniques.
2. Best security practices for handling devices, how to create strong passwords, etc.
3. Protocols for action against incidents to respond to the height of the problem.
4. Regulatory compliance helps to understand the regulations on data protection and digital security so that the practices that are carried out in the company are ethical and legal. This includes training in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), among others.
5. Customized control sessions on the management of the devices and applications specific to each job. They are usually based on microlearning (breaking down information into simple parts to assimilate) to help fix concepts better.

In the next section, we will share with you some techniques that will help you understand how to train employees on cyber security.

How to change employee behavior with cybersecurity awareness training

As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, the goal of cybersecurity awareness training is to modify the behavior of your employees. To achieve this you need to base your training program on commitment, repetition and practical application.

The first step is to understand the starting point through assessments that measure employee knowledge and actions on cybersecurity.

Next, for training to be relevant and strengthen the assimilation of knowledge must be close, and for this real examples are essential. It is equally important that participants understand why protocols exist and the consequences they help to avoid.

Beyond that, the following techniques will allow you to improve the result of this type of training:

• Gamify learning with fun challenges that are motivating challenge.
• Create a system of positive reinforcements and rewards to incentivize positive behaviors against cyber threats.
• Simplify cybersecurity policies. They should be clear, simple and very easy to follow.
• Create the figure of cybersecurity ambassadors so that people know from whom they can request information, accompaniment, etc.
• Ensure that leaders know and comply with your company’s security standards and become role models.
• Act at a psychological level by incorporating specialized professionals who share techniques to reduce the fear of a cyberattack.
• Reinforce the change by regular repetition, but avoid the boredom of the participants.
• Align training with the daily tasks of employees and foster a culture of support and responsibility.

And finally, to measure the knowledge of your teams in cybersecurity, identify risk behaviors, detect knowledge gaps and motivate your teams, take care of your evaluation processes.

Evaluation is a primary pillar in training cybersecurity awareness. At Smowltech we can help you meet the requirements of an effective training program that offers all the guarantees thanks to our proctoring plans.

Do not waste time and request a free demo, with it and our advice you will discover an innovative and safe way to remotely and easily evaluate your employees.