IT Security Awareness Training
Your employees aren’t your first line of defense in your security protocol – but they may be the most important line of defense. With Security Awareness Training (SAT), you can train and educate your employees to recognize IT security threats and take swift action to protect your company.
QualityIP recognizes the unique importance of IT security awareness training as it relates to securing every component of your organization’s IT infrastructure. Without employee training, hackers and other malicious actors may be able to penetrate your defenses. Learn how cybersecurity awareness training for employees can help your team reinforce your security protocol and eliminate “soft spot” vulnerabilities.
QualityIP is your security training partner.
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What is Security Awareness Training?
IT security training employs a combination of methods to engage employees and teach them about security threats they may or may not be aware of.
Security training also instructs employees on the proper use of software and hardware as they relate to security matters. It teaches them the actions to take when they encounter security breaches or threats. Finally, it reinforces why these actions and procedures are necessary for the safety and security of the entire organization, including staff and customers.
IT security awareness training programs are typically comprised of several different training components, including experiential learning opportunities, review of real-life situations, and policy awareness training.
Do You Need a Security Awareness Program?
Security training is critical to the success of a cyber protection program by showing users how to spot a phishing attack. Small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) often lack employee training programs like SAT, making them an appealing target for hackers.
In addition to the safeguards QualityIP can implement through our Managed IT Services, we offer a robust SAT program for your staff. This program is designed to educate your employees about the most common ways in which hackers try to exploit people to gain access to your sensitive data and accounts.
Security Training Facts:
95%
of all breaches occur because of human error.
71%
of all breaches happen to small businesses.
60%
of smaller businesses fail after a data breach.
IT Security Training and Testing Process
Ongoing security training and testing will help employees to improve their scores and strengthen their security awareness competency. Our recommendations:
Initial Course: The initial course takes about an hour and provides a baseline of security awareness. Foundational coursework ensures that employees receive consistent security education going forward.
Weekly Micro-Training: These “small-bite” training components highlight current threats and keep cybersecurity top of mind. The micro-training and quizzes take less than five minutes a week to complete.
Newsletter Updates: Each month, we email a security newsletter to your employees, to keep them updated on current events in the cybersecurity industry.
Simulated Phishing Testing: We test employee retention of the material with periodic mock phishing campaigns, evaluating the effectiveness of their training and identifying weaknesses.
Ongoing Dark Web Assessment: We search the dark web for compromised employee email accounts by external breaches. Employees have the option to check personal email accounts for exposure on the dark web as well.
Security Training Program Components
An employee security awareness training program from QualityIP includes the following components:
- SAT Portal access for each employee
- SAT Management Portal for managers and IT
- Dark Web Assessment
- Employee Vulnerability Assessment
- Award-winning support from QualityIP
- SAT policy creation and implementation
- Test phishing email setup and deployment
- SAT user onboarding and offboarding
Cybersecurity Training Assessments
Two important evaluations help us assess and identify key areas of security awareness: phishing material availability on the dark web and employee vulnerability.
Dark Web Assessment
The dark web is a system of websites visible through networks using hidden IP addresses. Through the dark web, hackers collect, buy, and sell personally identifiable information. Criminals use this data to phish and scam your employees and even gain access to your organization.
Through our security awareness program, you and your employees discover whether emails from your company domain are available on the dark web. The report also indicates the external breach that compromised the account.
We then provide you with the steps you can take to minimize your risk from the exposed email accounts.
Employee Vulnerability Assessment
Next, we perform an Employee Vulnerability Assessment (EVA) to help you determine which employees are at the most significant risk from phishing attempts. The EVA scores each employee between 0 and 800. The higher their score, the better equipped they are to meet the threat that hackers pose to them.
An anonymous leaderboard adds friendly competition among your staff. The scores are also available to the IT administrator and can be used in determining user rights and network access, further protecting your information technology.
Technology alone is not enough for thorough protection.
Your employees are the next line of defense in a robust security system, and we help equip them for the job.
Working together, we create a layered security approach to reduce your risk of a data breach, educating them about phishing, ransomware, and other risks to your business data.