The Importance of Cybersecurity Training

We live in a digital world, where an increasing amount of our day-to-day activities have migrated online. Businesses work, communicate, conduct commerce, interact online, and rely heavily on technology, which brings a lot of value and benefits. However, this also means that cybersecurity training needs to be moved to the forefront of job training to protect businesses, staff, and customers.

According to a recent study, 96% of respondents agreed that a greater level of awareness over cyber security threats contributed to overall improvements in their defenses.

Despite that, to help staff mitigate the risks of data breaches and cyber-attacks, comparatively, few provided adequate training. For instance, only a few organizations have a mechanism to report suspicious emails and conduct phishing simulations.

Whether you are a current or aspiring cybersecurity professional, and the above sounds like your situation, there has never been a better time to boost your knowledge to the next level with effective information security practices.

To activate a better cybersecurity career, training for cybersecurity should be implemented swiftly and cover a broad range of potential vulnerabilities. An organization is only as strong as its weakest link. It could expose a vulnerability that has devastating effects if one employee lacks the right knowledge about cybersecurity.

What is Cybersecurity Training?

In any organization's digital security system, human beings are still the weakest link. It is human nature: they make mistakes, forget things, or fall for fraudulent practices. This is where the role of cyber security awareness comes into the picture. To combat information security breaches, these programs are designed to help users and employees understand the role they are playing.

Real-world cybersecurity training involves the process of educating employees on the different cybersecurity risks and threats out there, as well as potential weak spots. To master your skills, you need to acquire the real offensive, defensive, and forensic cybersecurity skills employers need.

For keeping networks and data secure, employees must learn the best practices and procedures. Don't limit yourself to the single target boxes, the scope of threats, and what's at stake if security fails.

Stimulate your skills with real-world challenges that real cybersecurity pros face day-to-day. You will be able to work on full networks with multiple servers!

Research suggests that human error is involved in more than 90% of security breaches. Thus to prevent the loss of PII, IP, money, or brand reputation, security awareness training helps to minimize risk.

An effective awareness training program is going to address all the cybersecurity mistakes that we might make while using email, the web, and in the physical world such as improper document disposal or tailgating.

Different training programs include different aspects to build necessary skills. However, you need to look for:

• Installing malware
• Defacing websites
• Changing system parameters
• Compliance covering

Why is developing intense cybersecurity skills so high in demand?

Everyone is dealing with sensitive data

Starting with the most obvious, cybersecurity training helps prevent breaches. Whether a small or large organization, every company interacts with some form of sensitive data in their day-to-day operations. Even today's non-tech companies collect basic human resource information from their employees.

Equipping your team with the skills to identify, manage, and contain security threats places your company in safer hands, plus, also ensures potential risks are addressed before they escalate. As the information carries significant monetary value for identity theft and other harmful acts, it makes it a hot commodity on the dark web.

Meeting compliance requirements

Organizations are always on the lookout for employees with specialist knowledge to achieve compliance as cyber security laws and regulations inevitably contain complex requirements. For instance, companies are required to take proactive cybersecurity measures to meet data privacy compliance requirements.

The two major players, Europe's General Data Protection Regulation also known as GDPR, and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), require that those with personal data in their custody take reasonable measures to keep that data safe. These organizations need to find someone with an in-depth understanding of data protection law.

What's more, keeping your methods, tools, and systems in line with industry recommendations for mandatory regulations will do wonders for your business reputation and ensures you are employing the highest-quality solutions available.

Prevent data breaches and phishing attacks

Of course, the number of breaches a security awareness training program prevents is difficult to quantify. In an ideal cyber security world, we would be able to run a controlled trial comparing those who received training and those who didn't. But, that would be going a step too far for most organizations.

If you have done your research, the average total cost of a data breach is around $4M, which includes damage to the company's reputation, support for the victims of the data breach, legal fines, and the resources required to investigate the cause of the breach. Because of this, there is not only a high demand for cybersecurity professionals but there is also a significant shortage.

If you are thinking about building your career in this field, now is an excellent time for you to learn it the fun way with real-time challenges to get the experience, training, and certification needed to fill the cyber security skill gaps.

Those who wish to further their knowledge of cybersecurity, whether to upskill for the workplace or enter the field themselves, can pursue online, meet the pros around the world, collaborate on challenges and discover new skills and techniques.

Most training programs are tailored to match the variety of technical aptitude and knowledge of cyber security among the employees. The key factors of effective programs are structured training grounds with multiple servers, a patented scoring system that lets you take your skills to the next level, mastering for different certifications, and policy updates that are accessible according to your role.

Many security awareness training programs ignore educational best practices, which ultimately overwhelms the user with information. For training to stick, it needs to be fun, persistent, and delivered regularly in small sessions, to fit the schedule and requirements of employees.

Most importantly, rather than fear-based or boring messaging to improve on the critical topics it is best to collaborate, compare yourself with others and provide motivation to keep training.