Cyberattacks and data security breaches continue to rise as more and more businesses fall prey to the malicious cyberattacks launched by skilled cybercriminals and hacktivist groups. Due to security breaches, over 20 million sensitive records were exposed in the first four months of 2022.
A cyberattack or data breach can have severe implications for businesses and average users. However, proper cybersecurity awareness training can enable companies to reduce security risks and fortify their organizational infrastructure against modern cybersecurity threats.
This article will discuss the most common types of security threats today’s businesses face and how cyber security awareness training can help companies minimize such security risks and boost business performance, profitability, and security.
Most Common Causes of Data Breaches
Before we talk about how organizational security training programs can reduce the risks of data breaches, it is essential that we first understand the primary causes of data breaches. To get started, below are four common reasons why data breaches happen.
Experts blame people for 95% of all breaches. Let’s face it, we make mistakes! Mistakes and poor decisions made by employees ultimately present cybercriminals with the narrow opening that they need to infiltrate an organization. For example, an employee opens a sensitive document while connected to the Starbucks wireless network. The document contains bank and credit information for a potential client. Sadly, the Starbucks wireless network is not genuine, and a hacker is able to view, steal and profit from the data captured in the opened document.
On average, two thousand attacks occur every day, impacting thousands of businesses and individuals. There are many ways cybercriminals launch malicious cyberattacks. Common examples include Malware, Phishing, and Social Engineering. The majority of these attacks rely on the “human factor” to succeed. For example, a malware attack that results in ransomware propagating across your work environment is typically triggered by an employee.
Cybercrime increased by over 600% in 2022, and experts anticipate that cyber incidents will cost the world $10 trillion in damages by the end of 2025. Considering these grim statistics, business ventures throughout the world are investing heavily in cybersecurity measures to protect themselves from rising digital security threats.
Cyber security education is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways that keep the organization safe. These programs, if properly implemented, provide that layer of protection. For example, having the best firewall in place won’t help if an employee accidentally installs malware on the computer. While the firewall is designed to keep things out, it does very little for an insider threat.
An employee security training program can help employees develop necessary cybersecurity skills to identify potential business security threats while effectively containing and mitigating security incidents. These individuals can undoubtedly improve organizational security, performance, and productivity. A recent study even confirmed that cybersecurity programs reduce security risks in an organization by 70% or more. Not only is this great for the business, but security-conscious individuals are less likely to fall for scams, identity theft, or credit card scams as well.
In full disclosure, since I offer and teach security awareness training, I may be biased here. I think that security awareness training is best when it’s presented in a live setting where people can share their questions and stories. This leads to great discussions and starts conversations that would not be had in any other setting.
Oftentimes, organizations view security awareness as just something that needs to be done and don’t spend time on the completeness, and engagement of the content, which leads to poor results. Many of us have sat through training like this, where you simply go screen to screen while multi-tasking.
Ultimately, the various online platforms, in my opinion, are not effective, cost about as much, if not more than face-to-face training, lack the support your employees need and lack the customization for specific industries. So when thinking about security for your business, consider a live class taught by a professional. We can make this fun, engaging, customized for your specific needs, and offer support beyond the two hours it takes to train your employees.