Making Security Awareness Second Nature with Managed IT
It should be common knowledge in today’s business world that your company’s security protocol must start with your employees, and with strong security policies, rather than depending on your managed IT service provider alone.
You can significantly reduce the likelihood of a data breach by combining a well-drafted cybersecurity policy with the comprehensive security awareness training an IT company can provide.
It is your responsibility to ensure you implement security training for all of your employees so that your organization can withstand cyberattacks and carry out business as usual.
Regular training will also help you develop a security-focused culture within your business and make cybersecurity awareness second nature to your employees.
Cybercriminals can target your employees at any time and through an increasing number of channels to gain access to sensitive business data.
However, if your employees receive regular security awareness training, their calculated decision-making and quick response can effectively make them a human extension of your cyber-security system and help block malicious threats.
Security Culture and Its Influence on Employees
Conducting a one-time employee training session for the sake of compliance does not adequately benefit your business’ cybersecurity posture. It is only with regular security awareness training that you can truly help protect your business from looming cyberthreats that are constantly on the rise.
The following statistics throw light on why security awareness training is essential in today’s threat landscape:
- Human errors cause 23 percent of data breaches1
- Over 35 percent of employees do not know about ransomware2
- Nearly 25 percent of employees have clicked on malicious links without confirming their legitimacy3
The aim of developing a security-focused culture is to nurture positive security habits among employees. For example, the simple habit of locking one’s computer screen when leaving the workstation unattended can prevent data from being accessed by unauthorized users.
Once you properly train your employees, they will be more aware of the business’ security policies and will realize that their company’s cybersecurity is not just the purview of the managed IT service provider, but their responsibility as well.
Tips to Implement Effective Security Awareness Training
Until recently, companies would typically impart security awareness training as lectures using a slide deck.
Businesses conducted these training sessions once a year, or once during new employee induction. However, these sessions proved ineffective because of their uninteresting nature and lack of follow-up sessions.
If you intend to develop a security-focused culture, implementing robust security awareness training is crucial. Here are a few ways that your IT MSP can help you more effectively implement your company’s security training:
Make the training sessions interactive
Your employees will show more interest if you deliver training in high-quality video format since it grabs more attention. Add text content only as a complementary piece to the video.
Ensure that the presentation is appealing to your employees so that they do not miss out on important details. Also, make sure your employees can clear their doubts through face-to-face discussions or virtual conversations with subject matter experts.
Break the training into smaller modules
Since the attention span of your employees will almost certainly vary from one to another, breaking training sessions into smaller modules will help them retain information faster as a whole.
You can regularly send training modules to your employees to ensure they are up to speed on the latest security topics. Smaller units have a better chance of retention than lengthy pieces of content.
Facilitate self-paced learning
Give your employees the freedom to learn at their convenience. This, of course, does not mean deadlines should not be set.
Make sure you give your employees sufficient time to complete each training module based on its complexity.
Training must include relevant material
The training material must not contain any outdated information. Given how quickly the cyberthreat landscape is changing, the training must be updated regularly and must cover new cyberthreats, so hackers don’t end up tricking your employees.
Please remember that the content should not be overly technical. The training material must be imparted in an easy-to-understand manner, so employees have no trouble applying it in daily work scenarios.
Conduct reviews with quizzes and mock drills
To assess your employees’ preparedness, you must conduct regular tests, including mock drills that assess alertness based on their response to simulated scams.
Transform Your Weakest Link Into Your Prime Defense
Your managed IT service provider can build a virtual “fortress” around your business and its valuable data with its suite of advanced security protocols and software.
If your employees are untrained in cybersecurity, it is like manning that fortress with defenders who are unaware of how enemies may attack and don’t know how to keep them from coming over the walls or even right through the front gates when they come knocking.
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 to keep your data safe.
We understand that implementing robust security awareness training can be a bit challenging. However, you have nothing to worry about.
As your Managed IT Services provider, we can help you seamlessly integrate security awareness training into your business operations to make your employees the first line of defense against existing and developing cyberthreats.
Get in touch with us today and let’s get started.
Sources:
- IBM 2020 Cost of Data Breach Report
- Opinion Matters Survey
- Help Net Security Magazine
