You might be surprised to discover that merely running cybersecurity awareness training programs for your staff is insufficient to foster a robust culture of awareness in your organization. Paying attention to the details of how the training works and the precise topics covered is what sets apart the most security-aware businesses.
With the cyber threat landscape evolving swiftly, training programs that stay the same over time become outdated quickly. Who had even heard of a double supply chain attack before 2023? The math is simple: a recent survey reported that over 80% of leaders say their company has a security awareness and training program, but over 50% believe their employees lack cyber awareness. Clearly, there are issues and shortfalls in the subjects covered by these programs.
Here are fourteen pertinent cybersecurity awareness topics your training program must cover to be effective.
Why Cybersecurity Awareness Training is Critical Today
In addition to the growing number and sophistication of cyber threats, many attacks target users directly, and many cyber mishaps stem from a lack of security awareness. The right cybersecurity awareness training is vital because a comprehensive, up-to-date program helps change employees from being a weak link to a human firewall that can identify and avoid many cyber attacks and breaches.
Most corporate leaders believe greater employee cybersecurity awareness would help reduce cyber attacks. Security awareness training offers an organization invaluable benefits, including:
- Educating your employees about an evolving threat landscape
- Helping them recognize the value of the data they handle and applying the best practices to protect it
- Mitigating financial losses
- Ensuring your employees understand their roles and responsibilities in compliance with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)
14 Cybersecurity Awareness Topics to Cover in Training
When choosing a training program, be sure that the following cybersecurity awareness topics are covered:
1. Phishing Awareness
Your employees need to know how to identify phishing attempts so they don't get tricked by email scams that involve outsiders masquerading as trustworthy people or companies.
Points to teach in training modules include:
- Examine sender email addresses closely to check for any misspellings or slight deviations from the usual address.
- Scrutinizing URLs within emails before clicking on them.
- Look for phishing language signs, such as urgency, generic greetings, or poor spelling/grammar.
This topic should also cover fraudulent text messages (smishing) or phone calls (vishing) as other delivery methods for these scams. Include information about common phishing tactics, like fake job offers or mimicking legitimate organizations that recipients trust.
Pay attention to the growing problem of targeted spear phishing attacks focusing on specific individuals or roles within your company, such as impersonating a high-level executive or targeting finance teams.
The best way to train phishing awareness is through phishing simulations. CybeReady's platform uses data-driven campaigns and adaptive training to help deliver phishing simulations that markedly improve the ability to identify and avoid phishing scams.
2. Password and Authentication Security
Convey to learners how solid and unique passwords combined with multi-factor authentication (MFA) significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access to their accounts.
Even with billions of stolen credentials circulating on the dark web, hackers will struggle to get into an account protected by MFA because they'll need to provide a second, distinct category of evidence beyond a password that proves their identity, such as biometrics or a one-time code sent to your employee's phones.
Also, cover best practices for Single Sign-on (SSO) security to avoid account takeover (ATO) attacks targeting employees and customers.
3. Social Engineering Defense
Threat actors don't limit themselves to traditional phishing scams when trying to dupe or manipulate people into revealing sensitive info, downloading malicious attachments, or clicking suspicious links. Practical training should run through the whole gamut of social engineering techniques that hackers could use, including pretexting, baiting, and tailgating.
Beyond understanding the many types of social engineering, teach employees how to verify identities and requests, especially in cases where those requests involve access to sensitive data or financial transactions.
4. Safe Internet Practices
Many cyber breaches stem from unsafe Internet practices. Ensure cybersecurity awareness training addresses best practices like trusting websites with secure HTTPS connections, not downloading files or software from untrusted sources, and being mindful of what information employees share on social media or networking platforms like LinkedIn.
Remind employees that many public Wi-Fi connections lack any security features, so encrypting the connection with a VPN is imperative if they must connect to those networks.
5. Email Security
Good email security awareness includes being cautious of attachments and links from unknown sources, using spam filters, and reporting suspicious emails. Also, teach employees about the risk of sharing sensitive information by email and the need for an encrypted connection.
6. Mobile Device Security
With the boundaries between personal and work life blurring, employees must understand how to securely use personal and company-provided mobile devices when accessing work-related information. This includes using the device's basic security features, like setting a screen lock and promptly applying operating system security updates when notified.
Employees also need to Understand the risk of installing apps from unverified sources outside the usual app stores on these devices.
7. Data Protection and Privacy
Employees play a frontline role in safeguarding your company's sensitive information. Awareness training should convey the importance of this function and help employees understand how to ensure data confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Distinguish between different types of data to protect, such as Personal Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI), and Intellectual Property (IP). Also, outline the legal consequences of data breaches. Round this training with secure practices like data minimization, encryption, and access control.
8. Malware and Ransomware
Awareness of malware and ransomware means knowing how malicious software can infect systems. The two most common ways are email attachments, and malicious or spoofed websites. Include other relevant topics like the danger of enabling Macros in Microsoft Excel or running executable files from unknown sources. Employees must also know what to do if they inadvertently install malware on their system.
9. Remote Working Security
With hybrid work now a mainstay option in many job roles, remote work security is more important than ever. A comprehensive approach includes tips on bolstering home Internet security by changing default router settings and updating firmware when available. Beyond the home Internet network, employees should know how to secure devices from theft or unauthorized access. Strong familiarity with your company's remote work policy is also paramount.
10. Cloud Security
The average business now uses 371 SaaS apps, and the cloud revolution extends to cloud infrastructure and data storage. Employees who use any cloud service need to know about specific cloud security practices, such as:
- Only using vetted and approved apps.
- Sharing data securely.
- Using configuration management tools to avoid misconfigurations.
- Encrypting data before uploading it to cloud services.
11. Artificial Intelligence
The rapid proliferation of AI tools into many different roles creates opportunities, but it also comes with security concerns. Over 60% of knowledge workers use generative AI tools like ChatGPT in daily tasks.
AI cybersecurity awareness topics to teach employees include the danger of feeding confidential or sensitive data into these tools, and the use of generative AI by threat actors to create convincing phishing emails or other scams.
12. Physical Security
Somewhat surprisingly, physical security and cybersecurity are closely linked. Physical security lapses like letting strangers into the office, not disposing of printed sensitive info securely, or leaving workstations unlocked all pose cyber risks worth preventing.
Don't forget that the boundaries between physical and digital security are blurring. IoT devices collect data from the physical world, and OT systems control physical processes. A security breach can have real-world consequences, so consider the best security practices for each if they apply to your business.
13. Incident Reporting Procedures
Any incident response plan should include procedures and steps to report security incidents. However, for this plan to be effective, your employees must know the exact steps they should take if they suspect a security incident. Your security awareness training needs to familiarize employees with whom to contact and what information to include if they need to report something suspicious.
14. Security Policies and Procedures
Lastly, include awareness training about your company's specific security policies and procedures. These include regulatory requirements for the industry you operate in, acceptable use policies, how to classify and handle different types of data, and any policies about the use of personal devices for work reasons.
CybeReady: Proven Training with Up-to-Date Cybersecurity Awareness Topics
Ensuring that your team receives cybersecurity awareness training that covers a broad range of topics with the latest updates is essential to it being effective. But equally important is making sure that critical information is retained---and that comes down to how it's taught.
CybeReady's fully managed training solution leverages data to optimize the learning experience for every one of your employees. It takes a proven training approach to security awareness, with a continuous learning paradigm involving hands-on experience, a variety of training simulations, positive and short content, and immediate feedback---all designed for maximum engagement, retainment, and effectiveness.
Discover how CybeReady teaches the cybersecurity awareness topics you need by scheduling a free demo today.
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