The Importance of Employee Security Training
Impact of Employee Security Training
The majority of enterprise cybersecurity incidents can be traced back to a mistake made by an employee. Whether this came in the form of a clicking on a phishing email or lackluster security policies implemented by management– these failures all typical result from a lack of security training and awareness.
Security training empowers employees and management with information about potential threats, as well as best practices and procedures when it comes to business operations in a digital environment. An effective program will be comprehensive, mandatory and should be applicable to every member of the organization. Leadership is especially important in fostering a culture of security within an enterprise.
The time and expense incurred from mandating organizational security awareness training is far superseded by the cost of a security incident resulting from employee ignorance or lack of due-diligence by management. The cost of a breach is borne not only in terms of monetary losses but also in the form of reputational damage, potential litigation, compliance fines, etc. Arguably the most cost effective method of cybersecurity comes in the form of security awareness training.
Assumptions hurt your business
There should be no assumption that basic security practices are commonplace amongst enterprises or its employees. Statistics from various sources illustrate how many organizations neglect basic cybersecurity training/awareness:
-
45% of organizations don’t have any security training[1]
-
52% of organizations don’t employ any form of anti-phishing training[2]
-
Roughly 25% of organizations have a social engineering awareness program[3]
-
55% of organizations don’t have a basic email security program[4]
-
65% of organizations employ security training schemes that are of limited practical use when put into practice[5]
-
85% of finance workers lacked knowledge on basic cybersecurity concepts[6]
References
[1] https://www.comptia.org/content/research/the-evolution-of-security-skills
[2] https://www.getapp.com/resources/annual-data-security-report/
[3] https://www.getapp.com/resources/annual-data-security-report/
[4] https://www.zdnet.com/article/phishing-why-remote-working-is-making-it-harder-for-you-to-spot-phoney-emails/
[5] https://nationalcybersecuritynews.today/how-often-should-businesses-run-cybersecurity-awareness-training-socialmedia/
[6] https://www.align.com/blog/6-reasons-why-businesses-need-cyber-security-awareness-training
Additional References
Related Blog Posts
The Levels of CMMC 2.0 Compliance
Previously, we covered a brief history of the Cybersecurity Model Maturity Certification (CMMC) and touched on a few details of what it actually is. For this entry, we will be getting deeper into the internals of CMMC to begin breaking it down into its parts. CMMC was...
What is CMMC 2.0?
At this point, especially if you ever have contracted or subcontracted with the Federal government, you have probably at least heard the letters CMMC thrown about. There may have even been a twinge of trepidation surrounding the letters. But what do these letters...
Crypto Scams and What to Look For
First, standard disclaimer that this post is opinion and we are not licensed financial professionals, nor is anything meant to be taken as official financial advice. However, we have both direct and indirect experience with cryptocurrency and would like to share our...
How to Remove Metadata from Word Documents
What is Metadata? According to Britannica: Metadata, data about informational aspects of other data. For example, the date and time of a text message is metadata, but the text of that message is not. The term metadata is a portmanteau of data and meta- (in the word’s...
Want to learn more? Our Security Experts Are Here For You
Newsletter
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
We've been creating some excellent webinars and local events. Join our mailing list for the latest on industry trends and strategies for cyber defense.
Need Immediate Assistance?
Give us a call (405) 771-6399
Headquarters
3841 E Danforth Rd, Ste 106, Edmond, OK 73034
110 E. Houston St, 7th Floor, San Antonio, TX 78205
Copyright 2024 - Critical Fault, LLC. | Privacy Policy
