Security Awareness Training Can Save Your Company

The everyday choices employees make have a tremendous impact on their company’s security as well as its success. That’s why it is critical that every employee is educated about the risks they face and learns about smart security behaviors that keep their companies compliant with laws and industry regulations and most importantly, safe from threats like a cyberattack or a data breach. A new cyberattack is launched every 39 seconds. That’s bad news for organizations that aren’t prepared because only 16% of employees are able to recognize sophisticated threats without security awareness training. Falling victim to a cyberattack can put an organization out of business fast – 60% of companies go out of business within 6 months of a successful cyberattack.

Security awareness and compliance training helps make sure that your company stays safe from many of today’s nastiest cyberattacks. Here’s how:

Ransomware attacks climbed 134% in 2021 over the prior year’s total. However, ransomware isn’t the only malicious software on the block. Payment skimmers, cryptominers, Trojans and other nasty malware types can also cause devastating damage. No business is too small to be at risk – A shocking 50% of malware attacks, including ransomware, are aimed at SMBs every year.

How security awareness training helps prevent this:  

Employees encounter these threats every day but are unlikely to detect them without training — only an estimated 30% of internet users even know what ransomware or malware is, let alone how it is transmitted. 

A bad actor taking over a user account is a nightmare for every IT professional, especially if the bad guys hijack an account that belongs to a privileged user like an IT administrator or executive. Account takeover (ATO) fraud takes a number of forms, including phishing attacks, phone scams or credential compromise. In fact, ATO attacks have become much more frequent — up 671% in 2021 over the prior year.

How security awareness training helps prevent this: 

Effective training keeps users abreast of the signs of an ATO as well as the dangers of ATO risks, like phishing and credential compromise, and prevents these attacks from landing

In a common business email compromise (BEC) scenario, bad actors target a victim and pose as a company the victim’s organization would do business with to fraudulently obtain money or sensitive data. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) categorizes BEC as an attack that is 64 times more revenue damaging than ransomware. But the costs don’t stop there. BEC also endangers a company’s reputation and relationships, with employees encountering this hazard daily.

How security awareness training helps prevent this: 

Employees who have strong cybersecurity awareness are more likely to be suspicious when they experience unusual behavior when communicating with third-party service providers or suppliers.

Bad actors will often use cloned or “spoofed” legitimate email messages from a well-known company like Microsoft to send phishing messages that trick unwary readers into taking an action to do things like correct a problem, collect a prize or snag a deal. Employees confront this threat frequently — 25% of all branded emails that companies receive are fake.

How security awareness training helps prevent this:

When employees know what to look for, fraudulent-branded messages will be less attractive. But if they don’t, 50% of users will click on a link without concern that it may be unsafe.

A stunning  90% of incidents that end in a data breach start with a phishing email, and employees are bombarded with malicious messages daily. However, getting tricked by a phishing email isn’t the only way employees can cause a data breach. Errors like sending someone the wrong file and other data handling mistakes are just as dangerous.

How security awareness training helps prevent this: 

Security awareness training arms employees with knowledge that helps them resist threats like phishing while making them more thoughtful in general about how their actions and behaviors impact security.

Remote workers add unique security challenges. One in three employees think they can get away with risky behavior like writing down passwords or opening suspicious emails when working remotely. Plus, cybercriminals know that remote workers are more likely to fall for phishing tricks and less likely to report a problem or ask for help if they don’t even know who to ask.

How security awareness training helps prevent this:  

An estimated 40% of remote workers have caused cybersecurity repercussions for their company. Security awareness training makes them more cognizant of why maintaining security matters regardless of where they are and teaches them what to do if there is a problem.

Every employee is an insider, and every employee brings a certain degree of risk to the table whether they mean to or not. Negligent employees create over 60% of security incidents. However, some employees are out to harm their employers, and they’re responsible for an estimated 25% of confirmed data breaches.

How security awareness training helps prevent this:

A strong security culture is a major determinant in a company’s overall risk, and security awareness is the foundation on which it is built. If security is top-of-mind for everyone, employees make fewer mistakes and notice suspicious behavior faster.

Source: ID Agent