The Importance of Cybersecurity Training for Your Employees

Cybercriminals are increasingly focusing on businesses that have little cybersecurity resources and experience. As modern-age businesses are propelled by technological advancements, having robust cybersecurity has become a necessity for all sizes of businesses. Despite having the best-tailored cybersecurity measures, businesses need to train their employees to embrace cyber-crime-secured practices. The researches show that employees are the most susceptible part of cybersecurity. The professionally conducted cybersecurity training makes the employees the first line of defense against cyberattacks. The cybersecurity awareness training improves threat detection,  minimizes human error, improves employee efficiency, ensures regulatory compliance, preserves customer confidence, fosters a security culture across organizations,  and boosts cyber resilience. 

Importance of Cybersecurity Training for the Employees

Data theft was the common factor in 19% of all incidents; it makes businesses more concerned about information security (IBM Security X-Force 2023). Almost 84% of Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) fear being personally liable for cybersecurity incidents; 70% of CISOs fear that the increasing use of generative AI will give cyber-attackers an upper hand. Almost 64 percent of Americans don’t check to see if they are affected by a data breach; this tendency delays in detection of incidents.  According to the World Economic Forum, the likelihood of cybercrime entity detection and prosecution in the U.S. is around just 0.05 percent. About 68% of breaches in 2024 were caused by human factors. 43% of cybersecurity breaches occur because of insider threats, both intentional and accidental. 

The most common errors include using weak passwords, clicking on a phishing email, sharing sensitive data with the wrong person, failing to follow security protocols like multi-factor authentication, etc.. These mistakes often compromise an organisation’s entire security framework causing a big loss in different verticals of operations like financial, processing, performance, and social reputation. So, can you afford to let your organization suffer from cybersecurity incidents just because of less awareness among the employees about embracing cybersecurity practices? What is the best solution to secure your organization against increasing cyber-attacks? 

What is Cybersecurity Training for Employees?  

Cybersecurity training is aimed at imparting the knowledge and skills required to identify, prevent, and respond quickly to cyber threats. It enables employees to recognize suspicious activity, understand potential risks, and follow recommended practices to protect sensitive data and systems. It educates employees to protect themselves and the organization from cyberattacks by embracing advanced security practices. The tailored-to-need cybersecurity training for the employees ensures that everyone in the organization is aware of basic security protocols to contribute to protecting company data. Cybersecurity training for organizations is planned according to a particular set of parameters like the size of the organization, skills,  user segments, concerns, operational landscape, threat potential, etc.   

“A 2024 survey of end users and IT security professionals worldwide found that computer-based security awareness training was the most popular among the respondents”- Statista, March 2024.

Why Do You Need Cybersecurity Training for Your Employees? 

Should you hire a cybersecurity training agency to reduce cyber risks? What are the benefits of cybersecurity training? Any organization building a database and using technologies to automate and faster different processes needs cybersecurity training because it benefits not only the organization in achieving performance goals but its employees also to perform with boosted confidence. The top benefits of cybersecurity training include-   

Reduced Risk of Data Breaches and Phishing Attacks: Trained employees are less likely to fall victim to attacks such as phishing.

Development of the Culture of Cyber Security: The culture of security encourages embedding security values into day-to-day IT activities. 

Increased Technological Defence Against Cyber Threats: Cybersecurity training and awareness strengthen technological defense against cyber threats. 

Strengthened Trust of Customers: Customers want their information to be secured; the organization must keep their trust intact. cybersecurity training improves customer trust.

Regulation Compliance: Some regulations require organizations to conduct cybersecurity training periodically to improve employees' cybersecurity knowledge.   

Corporate And Social Responsibility Demonstration: Security awareness training doesn’t just benefit individual organizations but it benefits associated organizations also leading to a cyber-secure social environment.  

What is the Scope of Cybersecurity Training For an Organization?

Professional cybersecurity training is a vital component of cybersecurity workforce development. Some organizations need cybersecurity training to stay aligned with relevant data security compliance. Whatever the case, the evolving digital environment and parallel innovations by cybercriminals make it mandatory for organizations to conduct cybersecurity training and keep their employees updated with the latest practices to stay protected against cyber threats. As every organization has different concerns and requirements, the leading cybersecurity training companies conduct custom-to-need cybersecurity training with different scopes-     

• Phishing Attacks – Participants learn to identify phishing attacks and report these promptly.
• Removable Media – Participants learn to use removable devices safely.
• Passwords and Authentication – Participants learn to create strong passwords and implement multi-factor authentication like a pro.
• Physical Security – Participants learn secure IoTs and documents
• Mobile Security – Participants learn to use mobile devices securely
• Working Remotely – Participants learn to stay safe when working remotely and using public Wi-Fi
• Cloud Security – Participants learn to secure the use of cloud-based applications
• Social Engineering – Participants learn about common techniques malicious actors use to influence psychology.

“Social engineering involves deceiving, manipulating, and influencing an employee to get access to a computer system or extract the personal or financial information about the organization”- Mike Rotondo, RITC Cybersecurity.

• Data and Record Management – Participants learn to regularly monitor and manage data securely with a proactive approach. 
• Installation Protocols – Participants learn to install only safe third-party applications and software programs on existing computers
• Alert Response Procedures – Participants learn to respond to alerts promptly to address and manage risks 
• Compliance – Participants learn the requirements of relevant data security compliance and to keep their organization compliant.  

Key Elements of Cybersecurity Training

Cybersecurity training for employees is structured in line with particular identified and analyzed requirements of the organization; still, most cybersecurity training designs for organizations have some common elements- 

• Application security – protection of software applications from threats
• Information security - protection of company data and the data collected
• Disaster recovery planning – protection against a breach or malware infection; and, preparations for quick recovery
• Network security – protection of the physical network and the connected devices 
• End-user security - protection of devices being used virtually by employees, customers, and others 
• Operational Security - protection of IT security processes   

How RITC Cybersecurity Can Help You Have Custom Cybersecurity Training

The leading cybersecurity firm specializing in HIPAA, NIST, SOC2, CMMC, and PCI compliance offers customized services like cyber risk assessment, cybersecurity audit, and cybersecurity program development to help organizations secure digital assets by improving their cyber risk management. The company has experienced cybersecurity trainers with deep insights into the evolving cybersecurity challenges. The cybersecurity training, planned with the widest scope including all the essential elements like incident response, disaster recovery, risk management, etc. helps you implement technical controls, develop and define your cybersecurity policies, and initiate comprehensive security awareness across the organization. Book your consulting session with cybersecurity training experts at RITC Cybersecurity.