7 Tips for effective employee security awareness training

Cyberattacks are becoming more prevalent and sophisticated. To effectively defend against these, organizations must implement multiple security measures, such as access controls, multifactor authentication, encryption, virtual private networks, and anti-malware software. While leveraging such IT solutions is essential, you must also strengthen your company’s first line of defense: your employees. Provide them with security awareness training so that they will be less likely to fall for scams or unwittingly take actions that endanger your company.

Related reading: Why do your employees need security awareness training? Here are 5 big reasons

To ensure the success of your company’s security awareness training, follow these tips:

1. Create and communicate the company’s security policy

Before conducting the training, develop a security policy for your business first. This policy should outline the rules and procedures that employees must follow to keep the organization safe from cyberthreats. Once final, the security policy should be made accessible to all staff and discussed during the training.

2. Ensure that the training program is compliant with regulations

When developing your company’s security awareness training, check if it adheres to the compliance requirements that your company is subject to. For example, healthcare organizations must abide by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, while defense contractors comply with the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification. Having proof of your compliance will help minimize the fines and penalties that you may incur should your company suffer a cyberattack.

3. Make training mandatory for all employees

Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility, so all employees — from C-level executives to entry-level staff — must undergo security awareness training. This way, everyone in the organization will become knowledgeable about the different security threats and how to defend against these.

4. Use a variety of training methods

When conducting security awareness training, do not limit yourself to the traditional classroom approach. Instead, leverage a mix of training methods, such as using e-learning courses, infographics, video tutorials, and cyberattack simulations. By doing so, you can cater to different learning styles, helping employees better retain what they have learned.

5. Measure the results of the security awareness training

By measuring the results of the training, you can make the necessary adjustments to improve it. You can assess the effectiveness of the training by conducting exams and simulation exercises that gauge your employees’ understanding of the material covered. Another way is by comparing the number of security incidents before and after the training took place.

6. Set up an ongoing training program

Security awareness training should not be a one-time event, but rather an ongoing program. Conduct monthly or quarterly training sessions that cover different cybersecurity topics. Integrate a security awareness module into your employee onboarding process. You should also send out company emails on new cyberattack techniques or data breach reports to keep everyone updated on the latest cybersecurity news.

7. Partner with IT experts

Working with IT experts from a top-notch firm like SpectrumWise is the best way to ensure that your security awareness training program adequately meets your company’s unique needs. When you partner with us, you gain unlimited access to our extensive library of interactive modules, games, videos, and newsletters. All of these will help your employees gain the right mindset and equip them with the know-how they’ll need to effectively thwart cyberattacks.

Working with IT experts from a top-notch firm like SpectrumWise is the best way to ensure that your security awareness training program adequately meets your company’s unique needs

What’s more, you can easily create simulated phishing campaigns with our existing email templates and fake attachments, which are available in Word, PowerPoint, PDF, and Excel formats. You can also edit these templates to develop simulated spear-phishing campaigns. After rolling out such phishing simulations, you will receive reports on how your employees fared so you can determine who among your employees need further training. You can then send them our ready-made remedial learning materials and training assignments.

Interested to learn more about our security awareness training? Schedule a consultation with us today.

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