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Most of our activities happen on the Internet. In the distant future, we, as a society, might be unable to function without access to the Internet. Already, a significant part of major activities like commerce, banking, work, and communication happens online. This puts more and more data out there and increases the risk of Cyber attacks.
According to cyber security experts, cyber attackers are getting smarter, faster, and more complex with their attacks. It’s up to businesses to counter with robust cybersecurity measures and strategies. One of these strategies is security awareness training.
Security awareness training is given to employees to sensitise them on the importance of data protection and teach them how to identify and handle attempts at cyber security breaches.
Currently, only 36% of companies report conducting security awareness training. This value is low, and more businesses need to understand why security awareness training is essential.
In this article, we’ll discuss seven reasons why you should consider security awareness training.
1. Improve Cyber Security Efforts
82% of data breaches occur due to a human element vulnerability.
Many companies don’t understand the importance of training employees to be aware of possible cyber security attacks. They’d instead invest in other technical strategies for cyber security. The above stat shows how important it is to plug the human element vulnerability.
If employees knew how to identify and neutralise cyber threats, cyber security in many organisations would be highly fortified.
Without a doubt, security awareness training improves the success rate of Cyber security efforts.
2. Reduce The Risk Of Cyber Security Breaches
The ROI on cyber security investment before and after security awareness training is significant. These values not only reinforce the human element vulnerability and the role it plays in data breaches but also prove that security awareness training is an essential aspect of cyber security.
Cyber security doesn’t stop malicious attacks; it provides businesses with the means to identify and ward off them. The number of successful phishing attacks reduces significantly after security awareness training. Now, employees know what to look out for, and they’re more careful. So, the number of attempts that go through post-security awareness training reduces.
3. Gives Customers Peace Of Mind
In recent years, the average person has cared more about their data than before. People worry about what businesses do with their data and want some semblance of control over it. Businesses with updated cybersecurity strategies are better at protecting their customer’s data.
The customers, in turn, feel safer about giving the company their data. According to a survey, nearly 75% of people will not work with a business that has experienced a cyber breach in the last 365 days. Security awareness training boosts cyber security and encourages customers to work with you.
4. Builds a Culture of Cyber Security Consciousness
Businesses with the best cyber security thrive because they have made cyber security awareness and consciousness a culture. Building this culture starts with cyber security awareness training. This training emphasises the importance of data and data security. It teaches employees to be security aware and helps businesses adopt security values. For better results, companies should arrange regular security awareness training to keep their staff updated on the most recent cyber attacks.
In addition to solutions that help reduce human error and mitigate attacks such as Email Security, Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), Data Classification, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Privileged Access Management (PAM) and UserEntity Behaviour Analytics (UEBA) – various security awareness training platforms can help educate your team members and assess their security readiness through both ready-to-use and customisable interactive software modules.
5. To Fulfil Compliance Conditions
There are regulatory compliance conditions for specific industries. Companies within industries like healthcare and finance have to follow these regulations to be eligible to operate. One of these compliance regulations is security awareness training. Compliance will decide how often the training will occur, depending on the industry. It could be at least once annually or even more.
6. Strengthens Cyber Security Across Organisations
Another reason to consider security awareness is training is the overall benefit to the networks attached to you.
No business exists in isolation. In some way, they are attached to third parties and other networks. When one falls, the chances of the connected networks falling increase, putting others at risk. This is why many businesses carefully vet their third parties and any other networks they’re attached to.
Think of security awareness training as socially responsible, not just to protect your customer’s data but to keep other affiliated networks safe.
7. Saves Money and Other Resources
In 2022, the average cost of a single data breach was close to $4.5 million. For businesses with less than 500 employees, the cost halves itself to $2.98 million.
These two stats prove one fact: cyber attacks are expensive. They’re so expensive that some small and big companies won’t ever survive.
But companies don’t just lose out on revenue; they also lose human resources and this cost could never equate to the cost required to boost a cyber security team through security awareness training.
