Reduce Cyber Threats with Cyber Awareness Training
It’s easy to think you can improve your cybersecurity simply by using a firewall, installing anti-virus software, securing networks, and regularly updating your systems. An overlooked area, however, is cyber awareness training. Why?
Verizon conducted a year-long investigation into the causes of data breaches. Their findings? More than one-third of data breaches involve employees. Chief among the causes were:
Physical Actions (4%): Data breaches of this type relate to employees getting sloppy with assets. It leads to theft of laptops, phones, and storage devices.
Unauthorized Use (8%): Misuse of information presents one concern. Employees may ignore access policies. In other cases, employees may copy, share, access, or even steal sensitive information.
Human Error (22%): Employees make mistakes. It just happens. They can send information to the wrong person.
Only criminal hacking, representing 45% of data breaches, tops those cause by employee actions.
Remote and Tired Employees Exacerbate the Issue
Apparently stressed and tired employees make the situation worse, according to a report from Egress. It revealed that stressed, tired employees are behind 40% of the most severe data breaches. Fatigue leads to mistakes.
Remote workers increase your chances of a cyber-attack. Owing to the pandemic, outbound emails are on the rise. Ninety-three percent of companies report an increase. At the same time, 35% of severe incidents over the last year stem from remote workers. The ICO reported misdirected emails are the top cause of incidents reported, responsible for 44% more incidents than phishing attacks.
How Security Training Can Help
Companies can reduce security-related risks by 70% through cyber awareness training, according to studies. It’s a cost-effective way to substantially reduce your exposure.
According to Mimecast, only 45% of companies provide formal cyber awareness training. Even worse, only 10% of companies have training programs available. Ongoing training is the best way to ensure your employees adopt a culture where cyber awareness is at the forefront.
Training needs to include all employment levels from administrative personnel all the way to the C-suite.
5 Benefits of Cybersecurity Training
Cybersecurity training benefits your business multiple ways:
- Reducing Chances of a Breach: The most obvious benefit is that security training reduces the chances of a breach. Employees become more aware and careful of mobile devices, securing passwords, and recognizing threats.
Cybercriminals recognize that employees are the weak link in a company’s cybersecurity. Proper training creates an initial line of defense against cyber-attacks.
Moreover, employees can take a more active role in cybersecurity. Cyber training increase employee confidence and reduces concerns about being ridiculed for causing a cyber breach. - Creating Awareness: It’s imperative that your employees understand how to identify and respond to potential threats. Seventy-eight percent of employees are aware of risks associated with suspicious links. Nonetheless, they click on them.
It’s important to establish basic rules – shutting down computers, placing passwords in clear view, and changing passwords routinely. Policy creation is a key variable as you’ll read below. - Ensuring Compliance: Employee security training is a key component relating to compliance for HIPPA, PCI-DSS, and NIST 800-53. These standards bodies require security policies, including insuring that employees are properly trained on their use.
More and more regulators are demanding certain industries conduct cyber awareness training. Even if it isn’t a requirement today, it pays to be ready. - Cost Savings: It’s simple. Training employees to detect and avoid a cyber-threat costs much less than recovering from a cyber-attack. According to Hiscox, the average cost of a cyber-attack on companies is $200,000. Worse still, 60% of small to mid-sized businesses go out of business within six months of an attack.
Even if you don’t go out of business, studies show 29% of business facing a data breach lose revenue. Of those losing revenue, 38% report a loss of 20% or more. There’s also the threat of legal ramifications.
Equally important, downtime associated with a cyber-attack is crippling. Datto reports those costs at $274,000. That figure is 94% greater than in 2019. - Protecting Customers: Cyber breaches will cost you customers. Nearly 2 out of every 3 consumers will avoid a business victimized by a cyber-attack. Moreover, 70% of consumers feel companies are not doing enough to ensure security, according to Arcserve.
Security breaches also damage your brand. Ponemon Institute reported that 71% of corporate communication and senior-level marketers felt the greatest cost of a cyber breach is the damage done to brand value.
Indeed, a cyber breach results in negative press, lost customer confidence, and customer turnover. Negative comments will also proliferate over – 85% of customers will tell others using social media and even your company website.
Secure Your Business with Cyber Security Training
If you’re looking for a cybersecurity company near you in Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, or other local cities, call us. Our cybersecurity services include training solutions from KnowBe4, the world’s largest integrated platform for security awareness training. It includes simulated phishing attacks with reporting to measure your progress and ROI.
After 12 months of training, you’ll see substantial reductions in your phish-prone percentage. Phish-prone percentages drop from 37.9% initially to 14.1% after three months, and just 4.7% after one year.
Our CompleteIT package includes cyber awareness training. It’s also available as part of our co-managed package.
