It is a paradox of sorts, but employees are both the best defense against cyber threats and the biggest risk for allowing them in. Unfortunately, your staff are your biggest risk as more attacks are ultimately traced back to an individual within the company. In some cases, an insider has malicious intent and wants to do damage to the company that they work for, but more often it is simply a matter of negligence and oversight. For example, Syteca reports the following about a recent security incident at Mercedes-Benz:
In January 2024, Mercedes-Benz discovered a serious security oversight. Researchers at RedHunt Labs found out that the company’s GitHub token with unrestricted and unmonitored internal access was published publicly online. The token exposed source code, cloud credentials, and sensitive infrastructure data, including SSO passwords and system blueprints.
This incident was ultimately attributed to human error, but it was a shining example of how even a small mistake can have devastating consequences. Given these facts, we want to look at how best to train employees to be the first line of defense against the possibility of cyberattacks within your own organization. Applying a few tried and true tactics can create employees who are proactive against cyber threats.
Step 1: Start with Cybersecurity Awareness Basics
Rule number one of cybersecurity training is to make no assumptions. This is to say that you should never take for granted that your employees are already aware of various threats that exist out there. You should always start with the basics when explaining what you expect from them. Some examples of terms to go over with all employees include the following:
- Malware – This is a blanket term that refers to any type of software that is specifically designed to do harm to an end user who opens it up. It is designed to allow the creator of the malware to gain unauthorized access to company databases and more.
- Phishing – Think of “Gone Fishing'” but NOT in a fun way. These types of attacks involve a malicious actor impersonating a legitimate website to try to gain sensitive login information from users.
- Social Engineering – Have you ever felt manipulated by someone and only realized it after the fact? That is precisely what many cybercriminals rely on when trying to gain access to important information. They will pose as a legitimate source and do everything within their power to pretend to be someone that they are not. By doing so, they can manipulate the individual on the other end to potentially reveal sensitive information that grants them access to files that they should not have had access to.
These are just some of the basics of cybersecurity that all employees should be made aware of. There are many additional factors to note as well but starting them off with some of the fundamentals is a great way to build their knowledge base.
Step 2: Make Training Practical and Role-Specific
Have you ever sat through training at work and thought to yourself, “This doesn’t apply to me at all”? If so, you are not alone. Many workplaces treat training programs with a “one-size-fits-all” attitude that isn’t exactly practical when educating employees about cybersecurity. Instead of taking this approach, a competent workplace should make the training practical to each department and each role within the company.
There are different cybersecurity risks to the human resources (HR) department than to the information technology (IT) department. Given those differences, it is vital to simulate real-world scenarios that are likely to pertain to individuals within those various departments. You should set up scenarios of phishing attacks and other common threats to allow your staff to get some hands-on practice with combating these types of threats.
Step 3: Implement Ongoing, Bite-Sized Learning
Breaking cybersecurity training into more digestible segments is strongly encouraged for all companies. It is the best way for employees to truly absorb the information that is presented to them. AwareForce explains:
In essence, a year-round approach nurtures a proactive security culture. By keeping cybersecurity top of mind, it helps employees become active participants in the organization’s security framework, resulting in heightened vigilance, better threat detection, and quicker response times.
Additionally, your staff will appreciate other benefits of ongoing training, including:
- Improved Retention – It is much easier to absorb new information when it is routinely repeated to you. As such, employees are likely to retain more of the information presented to them when they are constantly reminded of it.
- Creates an Atmosphere of Security – One of your primary goals with training is to create the culture and atmosphere of security that will help your business stay safe and secure. Ongoing training keeps that spirit within the culture.
- Adaptive Learning – It is not as though the cybercriminals only come up with new ideas once per year. Why then should you only train once per year? The truth is, you need a more adaptive learning process to account for the fact that cyberattacks are constantly developing all year long.
Step 4: Make Cybersecurity Training Fun and Engaging
If your cybersecurity training feels like a boring lecture or an endless slideshow, employees will tune out. To achieve genuine engagement and long-term retention, consider making cybersecurity training interactive and engaging. Gamification is a proven way to increase motivation and participation, such as using quizzes, escape room-style challenges, or friendly department competitions with prizes for spotting phishing emails or completing training modules.
Incorporating real-world scenarios with interactive storytelling or simulated cyberattacks can also keep employees engaged and more likely to retain the information. When training feels like a game rather than a chore, people are much more likely to pay attention, remember the material, and apply it when it matters most.
Step 5: Create a Clear Incident Reporting Culture
Encourage employees to report anything suspicious that they note right away. The sooner that they indicate a potential issue, the sooner that you and your team can respond to it. As such, you will want to implement what is known as a “no-blame reporting culture”. This is a culture in which no employee who reports a cyber incident will feel the wrath of being blamed for such an event taking place. Instead, employees are applauded for acting proactively to try to put an end to the threat.
On top of creating a no-blame reporting culture, it is also imperative that the workplace has a clear chain of reporting as far as who employees should turn to when they do need to report a potential security threat. They should have clear instructions about which individuals within the organization will take that report and how they can reach out to those individuals when they need to. When this is the case, reports can be made more rapidly and effectively than ever before.
Step 6: Lead by Example and Get Management Buy-In
It is not enough to simply tell employees that they should follow your instructions for cybersecurity defenses. Instead, you must also prove to them that you are taking these instructions seriously as well. The best way to do so? By leading by example.
Everyone from senior management to the most junior employee in the company must buy into the security measures that you are asking everyone to adhere to. People look to their leaders for examples of what they should be doing, and that includes how they ought to protect company data.
Step 7: Test, Measure, and Improve
You won’t be completely certain about how your security measures are working out or not until you run some tests on those measures to see how things are going. This means that you should run periodic phishing tests to see if employees are taking the prescribed responses to these attempts. You can run the numbers after the test and see the success rates for employees following your instructions and reporting the phishing attempts as they are meant to do.
Cybersecurity is Everyone’s Responsibility
Remember, cybersecurity does not end at the walls of the IT department and with new AI threats it is more important than ever to ensure your employees are trained. It is the responsibility of every member of the team to get things right. Hosting ongoing and routine training seminars is one of the best ways to get buy-in from everyone on the team and to ensure that everyone is on the same page. After all, the threats are constantly evolving, and so should your approach to defeating them.
If you want a little extra assistance getting your team trained in cybersecurity defenses, contact us at Yobihouse.
