The Importance of Cybersecurity Awareness Training for The Workplace

Protecting your business’s computers from cyber attacks is no easy task. It shouldn’t take one person to do all the work. As an employer, you want to make sure your employees are doing their part.

That’s why we’ll be discussing the importance of cybersecurity awareness training for employees in this guide. It’s important to train them on the basics of identifying potential threats. At the same time, they need to know the best practices to keep their computer safe.

We’ll go over the cybersecurity courses they should take. These don’t have to be advanced-level courses. They can be basic level and enough to cover what they need to know. Let’s talk more about cybersecurity awareness.

What is cybersecurity awareness?

Cybersecurity awareness is defined as a process where you are educating and training employees regarding cyberspace threats. You’ll also want to educate them on taking preventative measures. At the same time, you’ll want to show them what they need to do in the event of an attack.

Yes, preventative measures will be key. However, cyber attacks can still be pulled off by skillful, seasoned cybercriminals. Nevertheless, it’s good to have a plan in place in case an attack slips through the screening method.

Why is cybersecurity awareness so important?

Cybersecurity awareness is important for many reasons. As mentioned before, one person shouldn’t be responsible for all the IT stuff. Even your IT support staff may be working with other companies.

To save your company time, money, and headaches, it takes a team effort to practice cybersecurity awareness. The challenge here is to take preventative precautions. As the old saying goes, ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’.

Your employees that are trained in cybersecurity awareness should put their skills to good use. This way, they can be able to spot attempted cyberattacks before they happen.

Where to find cybersecurity courses for beginners?

You and your employees are bound to find such courses anywhere online. However, it will be hard to decide which courses to choose from. There are plenty of introductory courses available through websites like Udemy, Coursera, and others.

This will come down to the price of the course, how many people can access it, and whether the materials will cover the basics (and pertain to your specific digital setup). To find out where to start, you can check out this list of cybersecurity courses.

In addition to online courses, Powernet offers in-person cybersecurity awareness training with our cybersecurity team, whereby we will come to your office, or arrange a Teams meeting and create a tailored session for your business. 

How much does cyber security awareness training for employees cost?

This will depend on the course issuer. But if you are talking rates based on each employee, a training course can cost anywhere from $10 to $100 per employee. The price itself is only a small fraction of how much it can cost a business that’s dealing with a cyber breach.

On average, it can cost $170,000 or more for a company if they are straddled with a cybersecurity threat such as ransomware. Even worse, they can lose more money the longer they deal with the issue. Needless to say, downtime can be costly for both time and money.

Training on cybersecurity awareness shouldn’t have to be brushed off to the side due to costs. Spending money each year on training will make a huge difference. Especially when you don’t want to lose a ton of money due to downtime because of a cyberattack.

What are the best practices for cybersecurity awareness?

Knowing the best practices for cybersecurity awareness is key. Here’s what they are so you know what to do in your company:

• Make sure every employee receives this training: Whether it’s your lower-level employees, managers, or lower executives, they must do this training. No one should be exempt from it. No matter the company size, everyone must be able to take during a time that works best for them.

• Make sure it’s done multiple times per year: While technological stuff changes, this can lead to your employees having to take training multiple times per year.

• Get to know the work patterns of your employees: What programs are they using? What apps are they using to communicate among team members? You want to be aware of this so you know about any potential cyberattacks that can happen on the apps, software, and other programs they use.

• Be aware that this is a long game: Staying ahead of cyber criminals will be a long game that will continuously be played. It takes well-trained employees to stay ahead of the curve.

Final Thoughts

Cybersecurity threats can be thwarted by your employees if they are trained right. So make sure they receive cybersecurity awareness training. Once they implement the training, they’ll be able to take preventative measures.

Likewise, they should also learn what the course of action is should an attack happen. These can be triggered inadvertently by your employees. Make sure they are trained for the preventative measures and the ‘what-ifs’ that may happen.