Creating a Cyber Security Training Program for Your Employees: A Simple Guide
With 95% of cybersecurity threats being caused by human error, resulting in losses of $3.92 million on average, cybersecurity training isn’t just for IT professionals. It's for anyone who uses tech - desktop, laptop, or smart device.
In this blog, we'll take a look at what employee training should include, the importance of continuous cybersecurity training, and the challenges and benefits of proper training for your employees.
The Basics: How to get started with cybersecurity training for your employees
Creating a culture where cyber security is a priority within a company is an essential first step for protecting against attacks. From the time an employee is hired emphasizing their role and responsibility in protecting company data and helping them understand the scope of the risk is key.
These are the basics to share with them from the beginning:
- Protecting physical devices
- Enabling two-factor authentication
- Using a VPN when using public networks
- Backing up, properly organizing, and storing data
- Encrypting data
- Using updated operating systems
Implementing continuous cybersecurity training
The cyber security threat landscape is always changing, with new players and risks popping up daily. Therefore, it's important to implement a schedule of continuous and regular training and refreshers for your employees.
Here are 4 things important things to create a cyber security training program.
1. Establish a baseline of knowledge.
Before you can train your employees on cyber security, you need to establish a baseline of knowledge. This will help you determine what employees need to know and what they already know. You can do this through assessments and surveys. It will also help you determine if there should be different training programs for employees with different levels of knowledge.
2. Train or re-train employees on the basics.
When it comes to cybersecurity, it never hurts to be reminded of the basics. This can include topics like password security, phishing scams, and malware. If this is new for some employees, plan to go more in-depth. However, if you're training a more knowledgeable group, a basic run down should be sufficient.
3. Make training fun and engaging.
To get employees to actually pay attention and learn from your training, you need to make it fun and engaging. This can be done through gamification, interactive content, and interesting visuals.
4. Evaluate and update your program regularly.
Your training program should not be static. As mentioned before, the cyber threat landscape is constantly changing and evolving, and your training material should reflect the most up-to-date and important information and risks.
The challenges and the benefits of providing cyber security awareness and training for your employees
Security awareness and training programs can be challenging to implement.
They require careful planning and ongoing maintenance, and they should be tailored to meet the needs of your company and your employees.
But the effort can be well worth it, as a successful program can help keep your company safe from the ever-growing threat of cybercrime.
Challenges:
- Difficulty keeping training material relevant and up-to-date
- Lack of engagement
- Time-consuming
Benefits:
- Employees are more confident in spotting legitimate security threats
- Fosters a culture of safety and security in the workplace
- Most importantly, it significantly lessens the risk of a cyber-attack or data breach
Get training set up with 1Fort's cyber readiness solution
Preventing cyber security depends on the proactivity of your organization, and cyber security training for your employees is a key preventive measure. However, developing a program can be time-consuming to implement and keep up to date.
That's where 1Fort can help. The 1Fort solution helps businesses automate the work required to get cyber insurance including setting up mandatory cyber security training for employees. We offer simple, engaging security awareness videos for employees that meet insurer requirements.
If you're a broker looking to help businesses meet training requirements for cyber insurance, book a demo with 1Fort today.
