Want to improve the security awareness of your workforce? You will have the greatest success if you provide training in real-time in response to risks taken by employees.
You can implement a new email security solution to block more email threats, use a web filter for blocking web-based threats, and endpoint security solutions for detecting malware and compromised devices. Add in multifactor authentication to stop stolen credentials from being used to access accounts and you will be well protected. However, none of those security measures will block voice phishing for instance, and even with all those security measures, threats will still reach employees, albeit at a much-reduced level. It only takes one employee to respond to a single phishing email to give an attacker a foothold in the network, so security awareness training for the workforce should not be neglected.
Businesses can develop their security awareness training programs from scratch or purchase a training platform from a vendor such as TitanHQ. Training should teach the workforce security best practices, get employees to always stop and think before taking actions that have the potential to compromise security, and employees need to know the signs of phishing. However, to get the greatest benefit from your investment of money and resources, you need to deliver training at a time when it is likely to have the maximum effect.
Many businesses provide classroom-based training sessions as part of the onboarding of new employees, they may even follow up with annual refresher training sessions. Employees may take this training on board and pass end-of-course quizzes, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they will apply what they have learned on a day-to-day basis.
Providing training once a year may be effective at changing behavior in the month after the training session, but what about 11 months later? Bad practices are likely to creep in over time. You can provide annual or biannual training, but also be sure to provide more timely reminders about security. These can include monthly cybersecurity newsletters, and it is also useful to add a banner to external emails warning the user that the email has come from an external and less trustworthy source. A mail client add-on is also recommended to allow one-click reporting of suspicious emails to the security team – You need to make it as quick and easy as possible for employees to report potential threats.
It is also strongly recommended to use a training platform that delivers training in real-time in response to mistakes by employees. If you want to build a security culture, you should be running phishing simulations, and any failure should trigger immediate and relevant training. That training could be a 5-minute video related to the mistake that was made. This timely training is likely to be much more effective than waiting a few months to provide a general training session.
SafeTitan allows timely training to be provided, not just in response to clicks in phishing simulations, but also in response to other security errors. Real-time intervention training can be triggered in response to a risk taken by an employee. This is important as the employee may not even be aware they have engaged in risky behavior and will likely continue to take risks in the future if there is no intervention. With SafeTitan, administrators can configure the solution to automatically send training content, policy reminders, data regulations, and compliance standards to staff when they engage in risky cyber behaviors.
All SafeTitan training content is gamified, highly interactive, and enjoyable for employees, and can be accessed via a browser from anywhere. Since no module is longer than 10 minutes, training is easy to fit into even the busiest workflows. If you want to improve your security posture, ensure you train the workforce, but be sure to also provide real-time training to get the best return on your investment.
For more information about creating a human firewall using SafeTitan, give the TitanHQ a call. Product demonstrations can be arranged on request.