Many businesses are woefully unprepared for a data breach or cybersecurity incident according to a new study by Osterman Research of over 400 security professionals.
Some of the insights of the study showed that while ransomware detections in organizations rose by 365% in the last year.
Over 40% of security leaders said businesses aren’t properly preparing for those attacks or what to do if one is successful.
One of the problems with being properly prepared for cyberattacks is lack of proper user awareness training. Organizations will often give employees a handout about cybersecurity.
when hired and then leave the bulk of their ongoing IT security to the software. Not realizing the importance of users being properly trained on an ongoing basis.
User cybersecurity training needs to be done regularly for several reasons:
- Reminds employees of the basics of good IT security practices
- Makes employees aware of new threats that may be hitting their inboxes
- Reinforces that the company takes cybersecurity seriously
- Makes data security and incident response automatic behaviors
What Does Good Cybersecurity Training Look Like?
The term “cybersecurity training” can be interpreted several ways. For one company, it might mean sending an email about data security to their employees once every six months.
For another, it may mean monthly video training and quarterly incident response drills, Why is it important to train your users on cybersecurity?
Because software can’t catch every single phishing email. Users are a main part of any protection you have against data breaches or malware infections.
Phishing scammers use increasingly sophisticated tactics to bypass phishing protections.
According to Infosec, 50% of all internet users receive at least one phishing email a day and 97% of people can’t identify a phishing email properly.
1 in 25 people get scammed by phishing emails and click malicious links.
User cybersecurity awareness training is just as important as any of the other parts of your IT security strategy, such as a firewall or antivirus application.
Here are several components of a good cybersecurity training plan.
Ongoing Training
You can’t just train employees on data security during onboarding and expect them to remember everything a year or two later.
Employees need to receive ongoing training to refresh their skills and to make them aware of new threats. The threat landscape is always evolving, and phishing emails take on new forms all the time.
Keeping cybersecurity fresh in your users’ minds can be done in a few different ways, you don’t have to have a full-fledged training session every month.
Here are some ideas:
- Annually: Conduct security incident response drills
- Quarterly: Training session on best practices and new threats
- Monthly: Send cybersecurity videos on a different topic each month
- Weekly: Include a weekly email with the data security “tip of the week”
Conduct Incident Response Drills
Do your employees know what to do if you’re hit with a ransomware attack and all your data is suddenly unusable?
You don’t want to rely on someone having to locate and dust off a manual that was written three years ago when they’re in the midst of an emergency.
Conducting incident response drills has a similar purpose to conducting fire drills. You want everyone to be familiar with what they need to do, so actions become automatic and can be taken confidently and swiftly.
It’s important that you include all employees that would be impacted in your drills, not just “the IT people.”
That way users know the first step to take when they see a ransomware popup on their computer. Or a data breach of the network is detected.
Conduct Phishing Drills
Another type of drill that can help hone the skills of your employees when it comes to detecting scam emails is a phishing drill.
This is usually conducted without the users’ knowledge. A simulated phishing attack is released. And then monitored to see if any employees failed to detect the scam.
And how many may have clicked a link to a malicious site or opened a dangerous file attachment.
Phishing drills keep users on their toes and help them get into the habit of being suspicious of any unexpected email in their inbox rather than trusting it by default.
Documentation & Support
Having clear and comprehensive data security documentation is another important part of employee awareness training.
For example, an employee may need to reference. what to do if a customer calls in with a credit card payment to protect that data.
Having support for questions is also vital. If an employee sees a strange email or popup on their computer, they need to know what to do. If they have an IT support contact as a resource.
They’re much less likely to “try to figure it out” on their own and instead get the expert guidance needed to keep from making a security mistake.
Need Help Putting Cybersecurity Training In Place?
RCOR can help your North Carolina business put a comprehensive employee cybersecurity training plan in place. That ensures your team has the skills they need to be an important safeguard from threats.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation. Call 919-263-5570 or contact us online.
