You’ve seen the headlines, so it is no surprise – cybercriminals are actively targeting all businesses, regardless of size. In fact, reports show that 43% of all data breaches involve small and medium-sized businesses. 

Although deploying multi-layered cybersecurity solutions is essential to help mitigate the risk of cyberattacks, there is one tactic that is foundational to preventing cybercrime: security awareness training. That’s because your cybersecurity protection is only as strong as your weakest link, your employees. Tech Target defines security awareness training as “a formal process for educating employees and third-party stakeholders, like contractors and business partners, how to protect an organization’s computer systems, along with its data, people and other assets, from internet-based threats or criminals.”

Make no mistake, even well-meaning, tech-savvy employees can forget security protocols, make mistakes or fall for social engineering attacks. It only takes seconds for them to click on a malicious link, leading to a security breach and jeopardizing your entire organization.

Christopher Poudrette, Team Lead and Project Manager at Charles IT, says that humans are statistically the cause and source of most data breaches and compromised networks. He confirms that the vast majority of employees are susceptible to phishing attacks and can easily fall victim to social engineering tricks. “I’ve seen entire companies shut down due to systems being encrypted, and they were down for about a week and a half, hobbling along on a few computers that luckily didn’t get encrypted. Cybercrime can bring your business to a serious halt,” Poudrette says.

To forestall this dangerous trend, savvy companies are flipping the narrative and turning their employees from risk factors into their greatest cybersecurity assets. This is where a well-structured security awareness training program comes in.  

The Importance of Security Awareness Training

Humans are both the source of and the solution to security breaches. As such, any IT program must include security awareness training. Poudrette advocates educating employees on the myriad of cybersecurity threats and risks as well as the potential weak spots in your systems where malicious actors can gain entry and wreak havoc on data, systems, and networks.

He says that awareness training can help employees become more proactive and vigilant by outlining cybersecurity basics and providing insights into best practices. With consistent training, employees learn to recognize social engineering techniques and the value of online safety and preventative measures. 

Consistency Is Key to Security Awareness Training 

Malicious actors are constantly on the prowl, refining their attacks and tools, which are increasingly sophisticated to fool even the most vigilant users. Unfortunately, a lot of companies see security awareness training as something that takes away too much time from the work that must get done. These businesses may engage in training but only superficially—once it’s done, they mark it off their checklist until the next time around.

Poudrette points out that this approach is simply not effective and may cost them time in the long run. He says that security awareness training becomes impactful only when it is consistent and deeply ingrained into the organization’s culture. Business leaders should make it a priority to send out reminders and push initiatives to ensure that employees are engaged and fully immersed during the training exercises. And corporate leadership needs to set the tone by being engaged in the training as well. “Going through the motions to get their certificate and tick a check box to show that it’s been done isn’t going to cut it,” Poudrette says. 

The Hallmarks of Good Security Awareness Training 

In today’s fast-paced online business climate, organization leaders need to rely on the ability of their workforce to spot and respond appropriately to phishing attacks and other forms of cybercrime. Putting employees through security awareness training helps get them up to speed on the latest and most dangerous security threats and sophisticated attack vectors favored by cybercriminals.

According to Poudrette, ”Understanding what the current skill set is, and where it needs to be bolstered, implementing regular training with updated training modules, and executing regular phishing tests, are the best ways to design employee training that addresses the biggest gaps in cybersecurity awareness.” 

Encouraging Pause and Think Mode

Phishing scams generally rely on social engineering methods that play on people’s sense of responsibility, urgency or altruism. Cybercriminals count on users not paying close attention to the red flags that could indicate a phishing attack. For instance, they may deliver an urgent email telling your employee to open an attachment in preparation for a meeting that appears to come from the CEO.

In such an instance, many employees would automatically engage with the email and perform the desired action without backchecking to confirm the authenticity of these unusual requests. For this reason, getting employees to pause and think instead of reacting on instinct, regardless of how urgent the message seems, is essential to security awareness training. “Your first instinct should not be to open that attachment. It should be: ‘I’m going to give this person a call to make sure they are actually sending it,” Poudrette advises. Security awareness training encourages employees to take the time necessary to identify red flags and appropriately confirm the legitimacy of an email.

Establishing a Baseline

One important strategy Poudrette recommends is performing an initial assessment to determine employees’ existing security awareness level. The results of this assessment inform how to structure and implement security awareness training programs that address any vulnerabilities.

These assessments can take the form of biweekly phishing campaigns that regularly test users on a slew of different types of phishing emails. The phishing tests can be tailored to mimic current events and trends in phishing — emails for best deals on gifts during holiday seasons, emails from HR about updating billing information, and IRS-themed campaigns during tax season. “Users who display more susceptibility may require intense mandatory training sessions while regular training can be scheduled for everyone else,” Poudrette says.

The pervasiveness of phishing threats has made these biweekly tests and phishing simulations a crucial component of the baseline assessment and overall workflow used by experienced MSPs when conducting security awareness training for clients. Assessing how well employees can detect sophisticated threats on their own helps inform the level of awareness training required for individual users. “If an employee fails a phishing test, it’s important that the system flags this particular user and recommends training modules to fill in the knowledge gaps and educate the user on the red flags they missed,” says Poudrette. 

The Role of Management 

There’s an adage: What gets measured, gets done. Business leaders need to enforce security awareness training and make sure employees who failed exercises retake the training sessions and update their skills in a timely manner. “Leadership needs to be engaged and remind everybody of the importance of these security training platforms. Even better is rewarding employees for high engagement or not clicking on phishing links— that kind of helps to drum up support,” Poudrette says.

Frequently Updated Training Modules

Across the board, executives, veteran employees, and new hires alike should be required to participate in company-wide training at a bare minimum of once a year, on top of regular testing and simulations. To ensure attentiveness, training sessions should be designed to be short and impactful — ideally 15 minutes at most to ensure that employees don’t zone out, Poudrette advises.

Furthermore, updating security awareness training modules is essential to keeping pace with the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape and changing work environments. Since malicious actors evolve more sophisticated attack mechanisms as time progresses, it stands to reason that training programs should evolve as well.  

The Future of Security Awareness Training

Poudrette forecasts that business leaders will recognize the need for security training modules that are more heuristic and tailored to users, companies, and industries. This could allow MSPs and training providers to send instant notifications and reminders when a user does something that may compromise security—for instance, connecting company endpoint devices to unprotected Wi-Fi in unsecured public networks.

A more heuristic approach could also flag such behaviors, send reminders containing relevant security tips, and suggest training modules to take care of the knowledge gaps of errant users.

As cyberattacks and threats continue to evolve, your business must adapt its IT program to stay ahead of the threats. To keep your organization safe, you should partner with a trusted managed IT services provider to design and deliver security awareness training for your employees. Charles IT offers security awareness training to educate employees about the importance of protecting data assets, identities, and other digital assets targeted by cybercriminals. Turn your employees into your biggest security asset. Schedule a consultation with our experts to learn more.