What Is Security Awareness Training?
Security awareness training was previously a matter that only certain industries considered necessary. Now, however, cybercrime is rising rapidly, posing a danger to businesses of all trades and sizes.
The UK government’s 2024 Cyber Security Breaches Survey found that 50% of UK businesses experienced a type of cyber security attack or breach over the past 12 months. With the average claim to remedy a cyber attack costing organisations £21,000, businesses, no matter how small, cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the potential security risks and damage a staff member might cause.
Conducting security awareness training can help businesses remain safe and secure, but what does security awareness training actually involve?
In short, security awareness training aims to train employees so that they understand and observe good practices to support cyber security within an organisation. Security awareness training is important to minimise the danger of cyber threats to a business, like social engineering, phishing attacks, or insider threats.
With the risk of cyber attacks growing constantly, security awareness training can help prevent employees from falling victim to cyber threats, improving security within the organisation.
We’ll cover more about why security awareness training is important and its benefits below.
What Is Security Awareness Training?
Organisations implement security awareness training to ensure their employees can identify cyber threats, evade actions that could be harmful, and participate in good security practices that safeguard a business.
This training creates a culture of security awareness within the organisation, ensuring all members are informed about the potential dangers linked with modern technology and ever-increasing global connectivity.
The training also ensures individuals are equipped to act responsibly to defend a business’s devices, data, sources, and networks against cyber threats. Depending on the company, this training may extend to business leaders and stakeholders as well.
The aim is to make sure that the training you give employees covers any risks they might be susceptible to online, like social media, email inboxes, or digital tools used for specific tasks.
Why Is Security Awareness Training Important?
You now know what security training is, but why is security awareness training so important?
Security awareness training is necessary as it reduces the potential impacts cyber security threats can have on an organisation and its employees. The benefits of security awareness training include:
- Reduction in human error
- Creation of a security focused culture
- Increased client confidence
- Safeguarding of sensitive information
- Ensuring organisations meet compliance regulations
- Teaching employees about security threats
Let’s look at the benefits of security awareness training in more detail.
1. Reduction in human error
A joint study from security firm Tessian and Stanford University found that a massive 88% of data breach incidents were related to employee mistakes.
This research shows that human error is a significant reason behind data breaches, but equipping employees with sufficient knowledge to protect themselves from cyber threats can help minimise this risk.
Examples of human error include mishandling sensitive information, clicking on phishing email links, or using weak passwords. There’s less chance of employees making expensive security mistakes if they’ve received sufficient security awareness training.
It doesn’t matter how large or small an organisation is, security frameworks, startups, and even government organisations may also need security awareness training to prevent human error.
2. Creation of a security-focused culture
Creating a culture that prioritises business security is important because everyone within the business has a role to play in upholding a company’s cyber defences. Equally, it only takes one person to make one mistake to bring a company to its knees.
Security awareness training contributes to this as it teaches staff members their responsibilities around an organisation’s overall security. This changes their mindset from believing that security is ‘another person’s problem’ to ‘my problem’, taking responsibility for their actions instead,
This training means there’s more chance of employees taking action to safeguard sensitive information and report anything that seems unusual. This minimises the risk of cyber threats affecting company reputation, employee productivity, and worker relationships, supporting morale and company culture.
3. Increased client confidence
People are increasingly aware of the dangers of cyber threats. To keep your customers confident in your business, you need to display that your organisation takes steps to protect against cyber security risks.
A Forbes Insight report found that 46% of organisations suffered reputational damage as a result of a data breach. Businesses can lose clients if a cyber breach occurs, especially if it leaves sensitive customer data at risk. Consumers will have more confidence in companies that are taking active steps to tackle cyber threats, increasing the likelihood of them doing business with said companies.
Security awareness training helps create a wall between cyber criminals and potential victims within your business, which includes your clients if you handle sensitive customer data.
4. Safeguarding sensitive information
Security awareness training is a vital step in safeguarding sensitive data. Hackers and cyber criminals regularly target businesses to steal valuable information, like trade secrets, financial information, and consumer data.
Employees should be trained in how to keep this information safe and secure, such as how to avoid and identify phishing scams, ways of storing data securely, and the importance of strong passwords.
Keeping personal information safe is even more important now that companies need to follow compliance regulations, like The Data Protection Act.
At Net Consulting, our Critical Asset Protection service includes custom audit, detection and response capabilities to ensure your important organisational data is safe and secure.
We’ll help you constantly check and evaluate the extent of cyber threats affecting your business, which includes proactive security measures and security awareness training.
To discuss your security needs with a team member, call us at +44 (0)29 20972020, or check out our services to find out more about what we do.
5. Ensuring organisations meet compliance regulations
Security awareness training is also important so businesses follow privacy regulations. Privacy laws like the Data Protection Act and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) apply to businesses that process personal information in the United Kingdom.
These regulations stipulate that organisations must display evidence of employee security training, with businesses that do not comply receiving significant financial penalties. Security awareness training should teach employees about data protection laws, the right way to handle data, and how to follow company policies.
For example, businesses liable to the GDPR should implement prioritising protecting personal information and increasing a commitment to data privacy in their training. This training should keep changing so organisations keep up with changing laws, avoiding fines in the future.
6. Teaching employees about security threats
Though cyber security is an increasingly prevalent issue, many are unaware of the potential security threats that could affect your business. Security awareness training educates your staff members about these risks.
Employees who understand the impact of security threats are better equipped to make smart choices around cyber security.
For instance, recognising IT security threats promptly is incredibly important. If an untrained staff member clicks on a phishing email, they may not know how important it is to report their mistake, or may not realise their error until much later.
On the other hand, staff members who understand security risks better are more likely to make intelligent choices, leaving phishing links unclicked, or reporting security errors as soon as they occur.
Giving your employees sufficient security awareness training is crucial to keep your business safe against the danger of cyber threats. Overall, security awareness training is an investment that protects your organisation and fosters an informed, resilient work culture.
We hope that this post helped answer what is security awareness training and why it’s important. The benefits of security awareness training can instil your employees with knowledge that supports your business’ security.
At Net Consulting, we offer custom cyber security consulting services that revolve around the NIST’s Cyber Security Framework. Supported by our team of skilled professional consultants, our services help organisations prevent cyber threats and respond to them if they occur.
To find out more about our services, give us a call at +442920972020, or send us an email at info@netconsulting.co.uk.
