What is Security Awareness Training?

Before we get into Security Awareness Training, lets take a step back and talk about Phishing. We have probably all received a phishing attempt via email or a text message at this point. It might have been in the form of your boss asking you to go purchase a gift card, or you might have received a text about a special offer that’s saying you will get a coupon if you enter your credentials. If you don’t know how to spot a phishing attempt, this can be detrimental to not only the individual, but to an organization as a whole. Hackers will use phishing attempts as a means to disguise themselves as a familiar email to get a user to provide information that would allow them access to your network. Once they are in, they will spread to other machines across the network.

So the question is, how do you learn to spot a phishing attempt and what should we be looking for? The answer is Security Awareness Training.

What is Security Awareness Training?

Security Awareness Training is an educational tool that aims to provide end users with the information they need to protect themselves and their organization against threat of harm or loss from cybersecurity threats.

Generally, this training is a combination of training videos and real-life phishing simulations. With a Security Awareness Training tool, you enroll your end users in phishing campaigns. This means that you’re able to send out fake phishing attempts to end users. If an employee clicks on one of these emails, they will be asked to watch a short video that explains what they should have identified in the email as being suspicious. You’ll also be able to pull reports on which individuals clicked and opened these emails.

So Why is Security Awareness Training Important?

We know that in today’s world, there’s so much technology out there in terms of security and protection. There’s many different kinds of firewalls and anti-virus protection that can help mitigate risk. However, we have come to find that one of the biggest risks to an organization are humans. We like to call it the human firewall. As humans, we like to surf the web and occasionally click on questionable websites. By equipping our end users with the knowledge to be aware of security threats and keeping security at the front of their mind, we are helping to protect the organization. The goal is to have end users pay attention to the validity of emails. If an attachment looks questionable, they should learn to call to the sender to verify.

Security Awareness Training is also an important part of compliance for certain industries. It’s also a great requirement to add on when onboarding new employees!

Have questions about Security Awareness Training, how to implement it, or where to purchase it? Invicta Partners is here to help! We can help set your organization up with the tools for success and even manage the training and campaigns for you. Go ahead and give us a call at 423-664-8700 or send us an email at info@invictamsp.com!