Igniting awareness in regards to cyber security is critical in today’s digital world. As a business owner, you have a duty to protect your company’s data, systems, and networks against potential threats. But it’s not enough to simply tell your employees about these risks — you need to make sure they understand how to mitigate them.
These efforts need to be tailored to your team. It’s important to understand everything about the people you’re trying to train before you begin an awareness program. From there, you can create an individualised plan for introducing new concepts or updating existing knowledge with new examples, evidence, and statistics.
Security awareness training helps your team understand what cyber threats are – and the consequences of ignoring them.
What is security awareness training?
Security awareness training is a type of training that aims to help employees become more aware of the risks that are associated with their work environment. This often involves educating employees about common security threats, such as social engineering, malware and phishing scams.
By improving your employees’ security awareness, your business can reduce the risk of data breaches and other types of cyber-attacks.
Prevent phishing attacks
Phishing, the act of sending a fake email that looks like it’s from a trusted source, is one of the most common online scams today. Phishers pretend to be someone you know or trust in order to trick you into revealing sensitive information, such as your login credentials. It remains one of the most common types of cyber-attack, with 92% of Australian organisations falling victim to phishing in 2021.
By training your employees how to recognise social engineering techniques and respond appropriately in case of suspicious emails, your business can prevent attacks from happening in the first place. Training can also help employees protect themselves against phishing attempts by teaching them about basic safety practices when using online resources, such as not sharing personal information over unsecured connections.
Raise confidence among your staff
By raising awareness among your staff, you’re helping them to recognise and respond to potential threats. When your employees know what to do in an emergency, they can work together more effectively. This increased team spirit can lead to better teamwork and better results for your business.
It can also help prevent unintentional leaks or data theft that could lead to lost sales, client information or employee productivity.
Defend against data breaches
Data breaches are more common than ever before. The number of data breaches in Australia rose by 6% in the last half of 2021, with malicious attacks the leading source, and human error close behind.
It’s important that your team understands the signs of a potential data breach. This could help your staff discover an issue sooner and begin taking steps to mitigate the damage as soon as possible. Data breach training will help prevent such incidents from happening. By learning how to recognise and respond to potential threats, employees can help protect company assets and customers’ information from attackers.
What signs should your team look out for? That depends on your industry. But the sooner your team is able to identify a potential breach, the sooner they can begin taking steps to mitigate the damage.
Adhere to regulatory compliance
A company’s security policies are a way to help businesses adhere to regulatory compliance requirements in order to protect their assets and reduce the chance of being fined. Because every business is different, it’s important for each one to have specific security policies that address the unique needs of your company.
What types of data does your team handle? In what formats is it stored? How is it transmitted? Those are just a few of the questions you should ask during security awareness training. Those answers will help you determine which regulatory compliance issues are most relevant to your business.
Develop cyber hygiene habits
Strong cyber security habits will help your staff become more aware of the risks they face online, and take steps to protect their devices, work, and by extension, the entire business. These habits include:
- regularly updating antivirus software
- taking care when browsing the internet
- verifying website authenticity
- regularly backing up data
- changing passwords often
- using strong passwords of 12 or more characters
- using caution when responding to emails or clicking on links
These simple steps can go a long way in keeping people safe from a broad range of potential threats.
Educate your people on cyber security awareness with the experts
Cyber security is a top priority for many businesses, but it can be difficult for employees to stay up-to-date. Security awareness training is a great way to help your team learn about cyber threats and, more importantly, how to prevent them from happening.
The IT trainers at Itopia deliver IT security awareness training through presentations, workshops, and activities to ensure your people understand cyber risks, can recognise threats and suspicious activity, and respond quickly and confidently in the event of an incident.
