A strong cyber security culture is important for all organizations, big and small. But what should you consider for the implementation, and where to get started? In this article, we will walk you through the seven key steps.
A strong cyber security culture is important for all organizations, big and small. The damage created by global cybercrime (http://beinsure.com/cybercrime-predictions/#global-cybercrime-predictions-for-2025) is predicted to hit $125 trillion annually by the end of 2025. Cybercriminals are preying on organizations, targeting employees and users to get hold of sensitive information, financial assets, or to perform other hostile actions. In fact, the majority of IT-related incidents can be linked to human error.
The grim news is, this is not likely to stop anytime soon. Firewalls, antivirus programs, and other solutions can take you a long way, but can not eliminate all risk factors. This is why it is important to improve the overall security culture within the organization.
There are seven steps to implementing security awareness training to ensure success and follow best practices. This will provide you with the information you need to create and implement a training program of your own:
Step 1 - Get buy-in from the top down
Step 2 - Perform a gap analysis assessment
Step 3 - Schedule regular, consistent training
Step 4 - Review training performance regularly
Step 5 - Deploy periodic phishing simulations
Step 6 - Educate people who fail phishing simulations
Step 7 - Implement policy processes
Everyone needs to be on board to implement a well-functioning training plan and create a culture that drives actual behavior change. By everyone, we mean everyone: from executives to middle management and employees. Don't stop there: include contractors, consultants - everyone who has any access to your data and systems.
One important step is equipping your workforce with the tools and knowledge they need to stay vigilant against suspicious activities and malicious attacks. Training shouldn’t be an annual occurrence but rather a part of the daily work culture.
"Training shouldn’t be an annual occurrence but rather a part of the daily work culture."
Create a security awareness team that is responsible for the development and implementation of the security awareness program. Make sure the team consists of a cross-section of the organization, with people from different areas and different responsibilities. Having the team in place will make communication and implementation throughout the whole organization easier. How big does the team need to be? It all depends on your organization's size, needs, and communication structure.
Do you struggle with getting your executives onboard with security awareness training? Read our article on how to convince your board to invest in cybersecurity knowledge. (https://nimblrsecurity.com/blog/how-to-convince-your-executives-to-invest-in-cybersecurity)
As you are likely well aware, a single data breach can create major damage for organizations, resulting in financial losses, fines and reputational harm. The average cost of a data breach is 4.88 million USD (http://ibm.com/reports/data-breach). That's why many organizations, big and small, need to implement sufficient training.
A good place to start is with a gap analysis. This step is designed to help you identify weaknesses in your security awareness culture before they result in data breaches. The gap analysis should include:
For the assessment to be successful, it is important to get an overview of the current situation: the IT security knowledge, awareness levels, and the overall understanding and need for security awareness.
By sending an anonymous survey to the employees, you will get a clear picture of the situation and which training topics will be most important to focus on.
The security gap assessment checklist:
Consistent training is one of the important factors when it comes to building strong security awareness within your organization and its implementation. This is important because cybersecurity risks continue to evolve, both in strength and numbers. For example: Since 2015, the growth of cyber crime costs worldwide has increased from $3 trillion, to $10,5 trillion – in just ten years. (https://www.embroker.com/blog/cyber-attack-statistics/)
When receiving training only once or twice, employees will forget about it soon after. If they haven't been equipped with the tools and skills needed to contribute to a strong security culture, the security awareness implementation will most likely be unsuccessful.
"Simulations are a great way to test vigilance, click behavior, and overall awareness levels."
This is why consistent training is important. A continuous learning strategy is the best way to learn new skills and improve cybersecurity knowledge.
Security awareness training based on continuous learning will be easier to adopt, the actual information will be retained longer, and the risk of employees clicking on malicious links will be reduced by up to 80% (https://nimblrsecurity.com/solution).
Examples of regular training:
When you have begun the implementation, it is vital to track key metrics of the training. These metrics determine success and are essential for you to track user steps and involvement.
Being able to receive automated reports (https://nimblrsecurity.com/solution/reports) is usually a great way for managers and stakeholders to follow the process because of how easy it is to set aside some time to evaluate the training and get an overview of results and areas of improvement.
But how do you know if you are successful? There are many ways to measure this. Look at the hard facts regarding click rates, completion rates, and awareness levels. If they are developing in the right way over time, you have taken some of the steps for successful implementation.
It is impossible to improve employee cybersecurity knowledge if you aren't analyzing the results on an ongoing basis. Reports and analysis should include the overall awareness level, the overall click rate, and the completion rate of classes and courses.
Without everyone onboard, it will be difficult to have a successful implementation. Don't forget, your biggest asset is your employees. Take the time to ask your employees for feedback.
And remember it’s important to make sure that the questions you ask are aligned with your security awareness policy for successful implementation.
4 security awareness feedback questions to ask:
Create monthly or quarterly surveys and send them to your employees and users. By asking the same questions, you will be able to follow the development of the overall satisfaction, click rates, and other vital KPIs over time.
The theoretical part of your security awareness training is important. But all implementations should include a lot of practical exercises, like phishing simulations. It might sound sketchy to send malicious-looking emails within the organization, but they are completely harmless and are crucial for building a strong security culture.
A simulated attack (https://nimblrsecurity.com/solution/simulations) is a training element where an email is sent to users. It could be made to look like an email from the HR department, the company CEO, or an external party such as the postal service, the tax authorities, or a headhunter.
"It is considered best practice to use realistic simulations."
The more realistic the simulation looks, the better. IT criminals are constantly evolving the ways to trick people with their attacks (https://online.yu.edu/katz/blog/the-evolution-of-cyber-threats). In fact, there are many examples of how scammers disguise their attacks to look harmless.
By regularly sending phishing simulations, you can ensure that your employees stay vigilant and learn which red flags to look out for. Most importantly, you will gain insight into the overall awareness levels and which users need a little bit more education.
Phishing simulation best practices:
With simulated attacks in your toolbox, you have a powerful tool for improving employee cybersecurity knowledge. Remember to use it. Regular practice and frequent reminders are key factors for the success of your implementation.
When your simulations are up and running, you are close to having a successful security training implementation. The next step is to continue the training and educate those who fail.
Learning new skills and knowledge is an ongoing process. It is important to embrace a continuous learning strategy, based upon your security training policy and processes.
Security awareness training is about educating users, giving them knowledge, and making them better at coping with cyber threats. This is of key importance because the majority of IT-related incidents can be linked to errors made by humans. (https://www.ibm.com/reports/cost-of-a-data-breach). By strengthening the security posture of your users, you will boost your organization's IT security. For this to be possible, you need to offer regular training and pay attention to people who fail phishing simulations.
How to handle users who fail phishing simulations:
A failed simulation can easily be seen as a failure, but that's missing the point. Treat those failures as opportunities to improve employee cybersecurity knowledge, which can hopefully prevent an actual phishing attack from being successful.
By now, you are close to finishing the implementation of your security awareness training policy. The last step is all about implementation, repetition, and briefing.
Work closely with your HR department, director, and other stakeholders in the security training policy. Make sure to brief all stakeholders on the plan, objectives, steps, and goals that will be taken over the year – and what part they might have in the implementation.
They will be important for implementing a training plan effectively, making training mandatory for the whole organization. Make sure everyone understands the importance of improving employee cybersecurity knowledge in order to reach your goals.
Conclusion:
Companies, big and small, need to implement proactive security awareness training within their organization. By taking these steps, you will be on your way to executing a plan that will strengthen your security culture.
As you might understand by now, it can be difficult to do this on your own. Nimblr helps over 4,500 IT professionals all over Europe and beyond with our solution. Our holistic solution offers automated training, simulated attacks, and automatically created reports. Feel free to get in touch with us.