Training your end users to understand and limit security risks is essential to protect your organisation from cyber threats. While this training has traditionally consisted of annual slideshow-assisted lectures, many organisations are now looking for a better way to train their users - and achieve improved real-world security outcomes.
There are four main types of security awareness training. These are:
Read on to learn a bit more about each type of cyber awareness training, and what's the best method to deliver security awareness in your organisation.
Classroom, or lecture-based, training is the most common type of security awareness training. It is what most medium and large companies do in order to train their employees on cyber security risks and prevention, and many have used this method for decades.
In classroom security awareness training, staff members are shepherded into a meeting room or lecture hall where a member of the IT team will walk through cyber security risks and best practice to prevent security incidents, often using a slideshow presentation. These lectures will often last for an hour or even two, and are intended to cover a lot of ground on cyber topics in one sitting.
While cloud-based training has been around for some time, it is only in the last couple of years that it has rapidly started growing in popularity.
Cloud-based training consists of online courses, which end users can take wherever and whenever is most convenient to them, be it on their phone or laptop, or while waiting for their bus. Usually, cloud-based training courses will consist of a few slides of training content that the user can go through at their own pace, which are then followed by a series of questions to test the user and improve retention of learning material.
Videos offer another form of training that tends to be quite popular with end users. While slide- or lecture-based content can come across as dry and see low engagement rate among end users as a result, videos can often offer a more fun and engaging type of learning experience that will improve security outcomes as a result.
Video training can work in multiple different ways. Videos can be shown in a meeting room to the whole, or a section of, the staff at once, or they can be used as part of cloud-based training programmes where end users will be able to watch videos when and where they wish.
Practical, or simulation-based, training can offer an entirely new perspective on how end users can be trained. One of the key challenges with training users is that often they simply do not think that they are at risk, or that they will fall for a scam like a phishing email. With simulation-based training, however, you can ensure that end users will truly realise the risk that they and your company face from cyber threats.
Simulated security awareness training involves sending out simulated phishing messages to your end users, usually through email, to test their response. Chances are, if you've crafted your simulation with care, that the majority of your end users are going to fall for the (fake) phishing email. Once they have been alerted that this was a phishing simulation, they will be sure to realise how easily they could fall for a real scam.
The best way to deliver security awareness is to take advantages of each approach. While every company will have different requirements to fit their specific needs, combining videos with cloud-based training will allow users to enjoy engaging content at their own convenience, maximise engagement and ensure that users are switched on when undertaking training.
Adding phishing simulations to the mix will allow you to keep users alert about the potential cyber threats they face, and help them understand how easy it is to fall for a scam. This will make them more likely to engage with their other training, and will also help you assess the real-world risk that your organisation faces from cyber threats.
Having a platform that offers automated training and simulations, and includes video-based content that will truly engage your end users, is essential for delivering real improvements in human security.
usecure is your one-stop shop for addressing human error in your organisation. Train your users with our automated cloud-based training courses that are personalised to address each individuals' weak points, and carry out regular phishing simulations with our best-in-class simulated phishing tool.
Learn more about launching effective phishing and security awareness training with usecure's free 2021 guide below, or try usecure's security awareness training courses with a free 14-day trial.