We conduct a live cybersecurity training for all of our customers every quarter. For some, a security awareness program is required for their industry; for others, it’s an optional security measure that educates employees on the risks of cyber attacks.
Whether your company has a strong security culture in place or you are just getting started with your security journey, here are some of the benefits of cyber security training and how they improve your business’s security culture.
The Benefits of Security Awareness Training for Your Business
1. Increase Resilience to Phishing Attacks
Did you know the median click rate of a phishing attack is 3%? That’s a relatively small number, but a click by one of your employees as opposed to someone else’s could mean the difference of your company being the victim of social engineering attacks.
We have seen successful phishing attempts lead to the loss of tens of thousands of dollars or ransomware events that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up. One way organizations curb an initial human error would be by educating their employees.
| Experience the Benefits of Security Awareness Training Prevent cyber attacks, phishing attempts and more with effective training programs. |
2. Harden Processes Around Financial Transactions
Most of the cyber attacks we have seen that resulted in a financial loss to a company could have been avoided.
Many of them could have been prevented with a simple telephone call, but people become comfortable with communicating via email and text and forget that those modes of communication can be compromised by hackers.
When we educate our clients on the importance of security awareness training programs, we teach them how to know when it’s time to stop trusting their eyes and pick up the phone.
3. Reduce the Risks of Data Breaches and Ransomware
Our cyber awareness training shows that the greatest cyber threat facing most businesses today is a ransomware attack. The importance of security awareness training can’t be understated in preventing this type of attack.
The majority of these cyber attacks are initiated by either an email attachment that is absent-mindedly opened by an employee, or a virus downloaded through a NSFW website.
Many employees don’t understand the risks that they expose their company and their livelihood to when they carelessly open attachments or surf inappropriate sites while on the clock.
| Interested in learning more about the benefits of cyber security training? Check out these blogs: |
How Cyber Awareness Training Helps Prevent Phishing Attacks
A robust security awareness training program walks through what we call the 1-2-3s of identifying the true source and intention of an email so employees can clearly see who an email is coming from and what it is asking them to do.
As one of the benefits of security awareness training, this method helps to curb potential phishing attempts.
Step 1 is to look at the “From” account name. Is it someone you recognize? Is it a vendor or a customer? If not, you can ignore or delete the message.
If you do recognize it, Step 2 is to dig deeper by clicking on the name. Is the sender really who they claim to be? If it appears to be an email from Microsoft Admin asking you to change your email password, but the address shows it to be a Gmail account, then they have failed Step 2, and you can ignore or delete the email.
Step 3 asks the question “Where are they sending me to?” If it claims to be an invoice but it’s sending you to a Gmail or Office 365 login page, that should send up red flags and alarm bells Your employees should know to back out that point.
