Building Habits for a Secure Future

Rather than relying solely on your IT team or the most recent security solutions, your company’s security programme should begin with its employees and strong security policies. Combining a well-drafted cybersecurity policy with comprehensive security awareness training can significantly reduce the likelihood of a data breach.

It is your responsibility to provide security training to all of your employees so that your company can withstand cyberattacks while continuing to operate normally. Regular training will also assist you in developing a security-focused culture within your organisation and making cybersecurity awareness second nature to your employees.

Cybercriminals can target your employees at any time in order to obtain sensitive business data. If your employees receive regular security awareness training, their calculated decision-making and quick response can effectively block deceptive threats.

The Impact of Security Culture on Employees

A one-time employee training session for the sake of compliance is insufficient to improve your company’s cybersecurity posture. Regular security awareness training is the only way to truly protect your company from the ever-increasing cyberthreats

The following statistics throw light on why security awareness training is essential in today’s threat landscape:

Smishing has increased over 100% over last year (1)
Managers and executives make up only 10% of users, but almost 50% of the most severe attack risks (1)
During the 2020-21 financial year, the ACSC observed over 67,500 cybercrime reports, an increase of nearly 13% from the previous financial year. (2)
In 2022, a ransomware attack occurs every 11 seconds. Last year, the ransomware industry shot up to a whopping $20 billion. A report by Privacy Australia revealed mobile ransomware attacks are also up by 33%.

The goal of creating a security-focused culture is to instil good security habits in employees. For example, simply locking one’s computer screen when leaving the workstation unattended can prevent unauthorised users from accessing data.

Once your employees have been properly trained, they will be more aware of the company’s security policies and will understand that their employer’s cybersecurity is also their responsibility.

Implementing Efficient Security Awareness Training

Until recently, security awareness training was delivered through lectures using a slide deck. Businesses held these training sessions once a year or during onboarding. These sessions, however, were ineffective due to their uninteresting nature and lack of follow-up sessions.

Implementing robust security awareness training is critical if you want to create a security-focused culture. Here are a few pointers to help you successfully implement security training:

Make the training sessions interactive – Because high-quality video captures more attention, your employees will be more interested if you deliver training in that format. Only include text content as a supplement to the video. Make sure the presentation is appealing to your employees so they don’t miss out on important information. Also, ensure that your employees can clear their doubts through face-to-face or virtual discussions with subject matter experts.

Break the training into smaller modules – Because your employees’ attention spans will almost certainly vary from one another, breaking training sessions into smaller modules will help them retain information faster overall. You can send training modules to your employees on a regular basis to keep them up to date on the latest security issues. Smaller units have a higher retention rate than longer pieces of content.

Encourage self-paced learning – Allow your employees to learn when and how they want. Of course, this does not mean that deadlines should not be set. Give your employees enough time to complete each training module based on its complexity.

Training materials must be relevant – Training materials must not contain outdated information. Given how quickly the cyberthreat landscape changes, training must be updated on a regular basis and must cover new cyberthreats to prevent hackers from duping your employees. Please keep in mind that the content should not be too technical. The training material must be delivered in an understandable manner so that employees can apply it in their daily work scenarios.

Conduct quizzes and mock drills to assess your employees’ preparedness – To assess your employees’ preparedness, you must conduct regular tests, including mock drills, that assess alertness based on their responses to simulated scams.

Transform Your Weakest Link into Your Prime Defence

Regular security awareness training can help develop a transformative security culture within your business, thus enabling your employees to detect even sophisticated cyberthreats and undertake adequate action.

Implementing robust security awareness training can be difficult and time-consuming. However, the advantages far outweigh the costs. You want your employees to be the first line of defence against cyberthreats, whether they are current or imminent. If you need additional guidance or are unsure where to begin with your cybersecurity training, please contact us so we can discuss how Mercury IT can help.