Why You Need Employee Cybersecurity Training
Cybersecurity initiatives often take a back seat for countless small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Whether that’s because of affordability or other more important business priorities taking priority, cybersecurity can no longer be ignored by SMBs. The reality is that SMBs have become highly targeted because of their limited knowledge or resources available in terms of their digital security.
The effects of not prioritizing a security-centric culture can have greater consequences for many SMBs. This is where understanding your business’s digital footprint and attack surface can be key. One way that SMBs can emphasize a more security-forward culture in their businesses is through adopting cybersecurity awareness training.
Cybersecurity awareness training should support all of your employees, including those where security is not their skill set or expertise. This article will cover the threats to businesses and the importance of cybersecurity training for employees to help you combat security issues that your small business may encounter.
Potential Risks to SMBs that Lack Cybersecurity Awareness Training
Organizations without proper cybersecurity awareness training can face greater risks than businesses that prioritize it. This can be due in part to a lack of knowledge, experience, and understanding of the human error aspect, all of which can exponentially increase security risks. Attackers can often leverage human error as a point of entry to carry out further attacks against businesses of all sizes, including SMBs.
Below are several of the most common types of security risks that SMBs can face. These types of attacks are often designed to leverage an organization’s lack of security knowledge and training, all with the end goal of exploiting SMBs.
Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks are one of the most common attacks that businesses experience. This is when an employee receives a piece of communication from another person in the form of email, text/SMS, phone, and/or online messaging that asks the employee to provide certain information. For example, a criminal can pose as a government official or representative from another organization in order to trick the target into sharing information more easily.
These types of attacks also commonly come with a sense of urgency, impersonation, and malicious links or attachments. The goal is to deceive individuals into revealing sensitive information, such as accounts, financial, credentials, or proprietary information. This data can then be shared and sold on the dark web for other criminals to conduct further attacks or steal money from targeted individuals or companies. Without the proper security training, your employees are at risk of falling for one of these scams.
Exploitation Via Social Engineering
Similar to phishing, social engineering takes things one step further into tricking people into sharing sensitive data. Some tactics of social engineering can mirror phishing, but they can also include offline and in-person manipulation.
Social engineering uses human psychology to influence targeted individuals and company employees. The goal of social engineering is to influence behavior to gain access to protected and sensitive information. Once accessed, this data can be used to steal money, data, consumer information, and more, all in an effort to exploit businesses. During employee cybersecurity training it’s important to offer guidance on what they should be aware of.
Weak Passwords
Insufficient passwords are still another common way attackers take advantage of SMBs. In a recent report, 65% of those surveyed stated that they use the same password for multiple accounts, including for work. Cybercriminals can enlist the support of keyloggers and other tools to gain user passwords more easily. Cybersecurity awareness training should emphasize passwords that lack character length and complexity or are often reused can be easier to crack for account takeover type of attacks.
Unsecured Mobile Devices
Unrecognized devices are mobile or computer devices that have been connected to your network, but their identification and authentication are not known to your administrators. These unsecured devices can widen cybercriminals’ entry points, increasing the overall attack surface of an SMB. These devices can open an avenue for an attacker to introduce malware or ransomware into an SMB’s systems or in its network. Ultimately, this can lead to disruptions in business operations and data breaches if devices are not managed and monitored appropriately. Presenting your employees with insights on how this can impact your business during cybersecurity training can help mitigate the number of unsecured devices within your network.
Lack of Incident Reporting
Lack of security incident reporting internally and externally can have a large impact on SMBs. If suspicious activity is reported internally and promptly, this can help SMBs minimize an attack or stop one from occurring entirely. Many cybersecurity incidents can cause multiple regulatory fines and penalties. Reporting incidents can help SMBs secure their attack surface more successfully.
Why Is Cybersecurity Awareness Training Important?
As stated in the most recent Verizon DBIR study, 68% of cyberattacks carried out involved human error within the company. Statistics like these show businesses that although attacks continue increasing, understanding the importance and value of cybersecurity awareness for your employees is key. Understanding what threats your business may face can be crucial to ensuring that your employees are prepared to spot attempts in the event of them.
Recognizing Cyber-threats
Cyber-threats are part of the norm for all businesses these days. Cybersecurity training for employees can help SMBs spot phishing attempts or suspicious activity more easily. Cybercriminals will target any employee if they believe their attack can be a success. Therefore, training your employees to recognize social engineering and other attempts to access sensitive information is necessary.
Promoting Secure Remote Work
Remote and hybrid work environments are more prevalent today than ever before. Promoting a security-focused remote environment is crucial to ensure business continues to run smoothly for SMBs. Businesses that establish internal policies that promote strong password security, implement multi-factor authentication (MFA), and virtual private networks (VPN), and train all employees how to secure their own networks and devices can promote a secure work environment across the company.
Empowering Employees
Employees are any business’s first line of defense against cyber threats. For SMBs, employees can be a crucial resource to help spot suspicious activity for your company. Empowering employees to adopt a security mindset with cybersecurity awareness training can help them better protect your business from attacks. It can also inspire them to be more security-minded in their everyday lives where consumer attacks are becoming more commonplace as well.
Reporting Security Incidents
Reporting any suspicious activity or security incidents can help minimize or eliminate the cyber-threats to SMBs. Those who adopt a culture of reporting scenarios that could be a security threat can be one step ahead of cyber adversaries. SMBs should also ensure they are proactive about reporting cybersecurity incidents to the proper authorities as it will help with their recovery in the event of an attack.
The Benefits of Cybersecurity Awareness Training for Businesses
Cybersecurity awareness training can support businesses to better navigate today’s complex threat landscape. There are numerous benefits for businesses that prioritize cybersecurity training for themselves and their employees.
Cost Savings
Businesses that implement cybersecurity training for employees can see many cost benefits. As surveyed in IBM’s 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report, employee training reduces the cost of a data breach by $232,867. Other studies, including one conducted by Osterman Research, uncovered that smaller businesses with under 1,000 employees can see an average ROI of 69% from implementing a cybersecurity awareness training program.
Preventing Security Breaches
Small businesses that integrate cybersecurity awareness education as part of onboarding and ongoing training for employees further prevent security breaches from happening. Attackers will commonly look for the easiest pathway of entry to exploit companies, which is often through their employees. Companies with trained employees who know how to spot a suspicious email or activity are better equipped to stop an attack attempt. Employees that can spot phishing or social engineering attempts reduce a company’s attack surface dramatically.
Improved Incident Response
Besides prevention, trained employees can also improve incident response for SMBs. Security awareness training that involves plausible attack scenarios that employees may experience can help them better spot and report suspicious activity. Trained employees can also help contain incidents more quickly and support the IT team to implement more thorough protection measures for the company.
Customer Trust and Retention
For small businesses, customer trust is key to building long-term retention. Customers need to trust that your company will protect their data in the event of an incident or breach. Trained employees can also proactively support building customer trust and retention by acting as security awareness advocates for your company. They can help your customers adopt more security into their everyday lives when working with your business for their needs, promoting more trust and consumer longevity.
Compliance
Regulations regarding consumer data privacy and cybersecurity continue to evolve. Many small businesses are often required to adhere to certain compliance standards depending on their respective industries. Most small businesses that take payments are subject to PCI compliance requirements. Other industries, such as healthcare businesses or international companies, can also be subjected to HIPAA regulations or GDPR compliance to adhere to. Trained employees who are knowledgeable about the threats they may see can help businesses support greater compliance adherence successfully.
Advantage Over Competitors
In today’s competitive market, small businesses that adopt cybersecurity training for their employees set themselves apart in their industry. Cyber-attacks continue to be an issue for companies of all sizes, which gives security-focused businesses a competitive edge in a demanding market. Breaches can damage businesses beyond loss of money and can also damage the reputation of a company. Businesses that adopt more cybersecurity awareness into their company can grow and scale their business more successfully against competitors that don’t prioritize proactive cybersecurity.
Adaptation to Emerging Threats
Cybersecurity awareness training can help any small business adapt to emerging threats. Staying updated on trending cybersecurity news and information can help your small business build strategies and controls to ensure security is a top priority in your company. Doing so can also help you and your employees reduce your attack surface, increase threat recognition, and identify new attack methods to help your business stay ahead of cybercriminals.
Security awareness training for employees is a valuable resource to help your small business be safeguarded against security threats. Employees can also be your advocates to ensure that, in the event of an attack or an attempt, they can help minimize the impact your business may see. ‘
Small businesses that prioritize ongoing security training as part of their internal organization can also see the benefits by ensuring they remain compliant with changing regulations. Today’s competitive market drives the need for more cybersecurity awareness training across all industries. Companies that adopt a security centric culture can see countless benefits that can help them continue to grow and scale successfully.
Cybersecurity awareness training for your small business can empower your employees to be the first line of defense against emerging threats. Educated and knowledgeable employees can also help small businesses protect their reputations in a competitive market.
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