Free Cybersecurity Training for Employees: Awareness & Detection Education

Free Cybersecurity Training for Employees: Awareness & Detection Education

Free cybersecurity training for employees exists. 

How? It starts with being aware and vigilant of various cyberthreats occurring today.

Last year, cybersecurity professionals saw several high-profile data breach cases around the world.

On November 1, 2022, an unknown attacker stole credentials, data, and other information from Dropbox servers.

In July 2022, a hacker proclaimed they had the data from 5.4 million Twitter accounts for sale, including email addresses and phone numbers from celebrities and companies.

And yet, you and your organization can avoid being part of the statistics.

Cybersecurity training for employees: what you need to know

Cyber training for employees is essential for continued operation and defense against cyberattacks and data breaches.

Educating your employees on cybersecurity and data protection is simpler than you might think. Still, it also takes continual support and vigilance.

Can your employees spot cybersecurity threats today? 

What is cybersecurity training?

Cybersecurity training is arming your employees with valuable knowledge to detect and prevent attacks. Education on social engineering attacks, email phishing attacks and ransomware, conducting phishing simulations, and providing security measure templates can be highly effective for your cybersecurity training program.

Therefore, employees who participate in cyber prevention awareness and detection often are more prepared and effective in protecting the company's assets.

The importance of cyber security awareness training for employees

If employees don't know how to spot a cybersecurity threat, how can they avoid, report, or even resolve it?

There is a lot of staggering evidence showing how critical employee training is for your people and the data security of your company.

According to a survey conducted in 2019, there needs to be a cyber security awareness training program to tackle the top problems IT and security professionals face daily.

How a lack of cybersecurity training can impact your business

Accenture's Cost of Cybercrime Study reports that "43% of cyber attacks are aimed at small businesses, but only 14% are prepared to defend themselves."

Studies suggest that information security training erodes 30-60 days after users have taken the training. This leaves businesses vulnerable after a short time. In addition, cybersecurity professionals suggest many companies need help to see the benefit of cybersecurity training beyond maintaining compliance.

Need help with employee cyber security training?

From onboarding new hires to ensuring compliance from the C-Suite, computer security training for employees starts with basic cyber hygienics. Hyper Vigilance is glad to offer these tips as free cybersecurity awareness training for employees:

• Teach them about cybersecurity threat vectors. Discuss known threats and those that have targeted your business in the past. Start with some basics such as "What is a virus?", "How do attacks happen?" and "What's at stake for each employee and the business?" 
• You can then move into deeper conversation and training about phishing examples, demonstrating various ways this attack can occur and how it becomes successful. 
• Train them using active malware and virus campaigns using stories versus traditional training courses and less effective methods.
• Drive home the importance of password security. Get your employees to understand the importance of password security for personal and corporate accounts. People regularly use passwords to establish user authentication, unlock their devices, and gain access to secured networks, files, and web applications. 
• Users feeling overwhelmed and confused as a result of the complexity of password policy configurations choose to use generic passwords and tend to reuse the same passwords across many accounts. This reuse makes it easier for attackers to compromise accounts. An effective password manager system can help mitigate risk management and protect from potential threats.
• Check the GitHub list to see if your password has been compromised.
• Create email, internet, smartphone, and social media policies. The pandemic pushed more businesses and staff to remote work environments, creating an additional endpoint for human error for the IT team and a rise in cybercrime.
• Communicating organizational cybersecurity and privacy policies is essential. Define the rules regarding email, internet, mobile devices, and social media related to corporate capabilities and data concisely and often to every employee.
• Imagine a business with no policies - the chances of your employees making your sensitive data and internal knowledge vulnerable or uncontrolled due to poor cybersecurity practices would be catastrophic. A lack of procedures can result in the loss of revenue and/or future investment. 
• New research reveals a positive correlation between a strong security posture and positive stock performance. Investors will soon start evaluating cybersecurity risk in their financial portfolios, impacting buy, hold, and sell recommendations in the financial markets.

Cybersecurity awareness in enterprise companies

According to Verizon, 90% of cyber attacks start with an email. So despite what others have suggested, labeling your employees the weakest link, your employees are likely the only resource you have to stop this threat.

From password managers to training modules, online courses, and frequent quizzes, your team is better equipped to protect your company data and strengthen cybersecurity functionality on your network.

Hyper Vigilance offers small business cybersecurity solutions as an effective defense from digital scams and vulnerabilities.

Corporate cyber security training

Employees who participate in cybersecurity training are more prepared and effective in protecting the company's assets.

An ID Agent article states, "Even a modest investment in security awareness and training has a 72% chance of significantly reducing the business impact of a cyberattack."

Build employee awareness of the business's regulatory and legal obligations regarding data protections involving information such as Personal Identifiable Information and Personal Health Information. 

All employees should be aware of their personal responsibilities as it relates to the company's legal and regulatory obligations.

Access our free cyber security awareness training for employees

As part of our services, Hyper Vigilance provides comprehensive training for all employees to meet the ever-changing and increasing cybersecurity demands of the modern workplace.

Cybersecurity awareness training statistics

• The World Economic Forum reports that 95% of cyber security breaches were caused by human error.
• Verizon reported that 94% of malware was delivered by email in 2021.
• Microsoft states that when employees train in phishing simulations, they are 50% less likely to succumb to such scams. The same article states that basic security hygiene protects against 98% cyberattacks.

Cybersecurity awareness tools only work 40-50% of the time

According to an article by Infosec Institute, continuous cybersecurity training can effectively reduce the number of incidents by 40-50%, whereas inconsistent training only offers a 10-15% reduction.

Educating employees on cyber security results in…

A reduction in phishing scam costs by over 50% 

According to ID Agent, only 52% of organizations do phishing simulations or training. Your people are the first-line defense regarding information and email security.

Saving $$

One of our clients saved $100,000 in yearly IT software and services by implementing smart and compliant solutions.

Improved phishing detection and interception

Hyper Vigilance's training has resulted in over 300 million phishing emails blocked (and counting!) since our inception.

Improved NIST client scores

One Hyper Vigilance client moved from a negative NIST score to almost full compliance in less than 1 month.

Final points on cyber security training for staff

Proactive protection against cybersecurity threats such as malware and ransomware attacks is essential to safeguard sensitive information from cybercriminals.

Here are a few more points to keep in mind while making your employees stronger, more empowered, and better equipped to detect cybersecurity threats.