Steps to Take to Implement Security Awareness Training

Constant security awareness training is needed in today’s world. Bad actors are continuing to target individuals and businesses and there’s no sign of them letting up. It’s also been proven that you can invest as much money as you’d like in security tools and technology like firewalls and anti-viruses but if your employees can’t spot a phishing attempt, you have a bigger problem. Giving your employees proper training and education can be the difference in a gut wrench ransomware attack on your business. The best part is that security awareness training doesn’t have to be super time consuming. It can be simple, but effective.

Here’s some main steps to take when trying to implement security awareness training into your organization.

 

Learn what your current employees know and perform a gap analysis.

You’ll need a starting point which means you’ll need to understand your current state of employees. Do your employees know how to spot a fake email? Do employees already understand what common requests from bosses and higher ups look like. Starting with a knowledge baseline is key.

 

Schedule routine training sessions.

What’s the best way to learn something new? Consistent practice. Cyber attacks change all the time, which people need to exposed about what kind of threats are out there. Many businesses opt to push out security training once a month or once a quarter. Some businesses have also adopted a model to provide security awareness training as onboarding when new employees come on.

 

Constantly review training.

It’s not enough to just push out training sessions. You’ll have to keep track of who it completing them and what their scores are on their quizzes, if applicable. Making sure your employees stay up to date on the trainings is half the battle.

 

Push out phishing attempts on a regular basis.

Simulated phishing attempts will really show you who is paying attention to the training or not. You’ll be able to track who has clicked on the phishing attempts and who has reported the emails as phishing. Sending those campaigns on a regular basis will ensure that employees are paying attention and which ones may need more help.

 

Provide extra training and education for the people who click on the phishing training attempts.

Providing extra training will be necessary for people who fail the phishing campaigns. The good news is that most products will already have a pop up when employees click on a phishing attempt and most of them have additional videos can show the end user what to look for in that specific attempt.  

 

Have more questions about security awareness training and how to implement it? Looking for someone to take on the burden of security awareness campaigns and reporting? At Invicta Partners, we can do it all! Reach out to us today to start a conversation.