Would your employees be able to identify a phishing email when it landed in their inbox? Notice I said when, not if… Phishing emails are consistently on the rise and without proper protections in place, your employees could be a prime target.
Phishing emails are designed to capture a person’s or organization’s sensitive data and if your employee falls victim, it can affect your entire network. How much damage can one phishing email cause? Just one email has the power to not only shut down your network – it costs small businesses on average $53,987.
More than 90% of cyberattacks start with a phishing email and assuming your employees can identify a scam email is not the safest approach to protecting your company, assets and data. As these scams become more sophisticated, having a regular security awareness training program in place is essential to successfully protecting your business. In fact, trained users are 30% less likely to click on a suspicious link.
What is cybersecurity awareness training?
Cybersecurity awareness training programs are designed to teach employees best practices for passwords and privacy, how to identify suspicious emails, and what the necessary steps are to reporting those emails.
To be effective, training programs should be ongoing – not once and done. In a 2020 study by Osterman Research, Inc., it was found that 75% of employees who received no more than 5 minutes of training per month had the ability to report suspicious content to their IT team. That increased to 93% for the employees who received no more than 15 minutes of training per month.
What do employees need to know about cybersecurity?
In addition to the different types of phishing emails, employees should understand the importance of password security, data protection and office hygiene. Employees should also understand the necessary steps to take if they’ve received a suspicious communication or clicked an unsafe link in an email. Quick action will mitigate data losses and damages.
When your employees feel like they’re part of your security team, they’re more likely to actively identify and take action to stop cyber threats.
Why do employees need cybersecurity training?
Research shows that more than 90% of security breaches involve human error. With an awareness training program in place, your employees will have a better chance of identifying threats and knowing the necessary action(s) to take before your business is impacted.
How do I train my employees for cybersecurity?
We recommend using a program that not only teaches your employees through videos and quizzes but also uses simulation campaigns to apply (and test) what they’ve learned since people are more likely to retain what they’ve learned through experience.
Not sure how to implement your security awareness training program?
We can help. Contact us today to get started.