Cyberawareness training is the need of the hour for companies because their data is at stake with everything getting digitalized. Hackers are adopting new solutions to hack websites and apps, and it has become difficult to trace them. The training is not enough, and more advanced methods have to be used to teach employees how to protect their computers. Companies can’t expect people to become expert cyber security experts because they have attended one training session.
Cyberawareness training can’t be completed in one session because it comprises many topics like phishing emails, ransomware and malware.Companies must ensure that they are well-prepared to deal with cyber attacks. But how? They must prepare employees through simulations to prepare them for what can happen. They must have proper examples to teach them and not some old legacy examples.
When employees are assessed through the same, their skill gaps come out in the open. With such skill gaps, companies know how to prepare employees for future training. These are the reasons due to which cyberawareness training has become important:
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Employees’ devices are vulnerable:
The employees must ensure that they don’t get the company devices stolen while working from home. It’s because such devices contain all the sensitive data. Moreover, even when working from the office, they should ensure that such devices are always locked by passwords so that no one can access confidential data. Employees must install antivirus software on their systems to prevent such attacks. Apart from various training sessions, the knowledge of the employees must also be checked through tests to see if they have grasped the information.
- Use of smartphones:
Since mobile phones have replaced computers, the threat has gotten bigger. Because mobile phones are taken everywhere, they can be stolen easily.
Moreover, they are used for every purpose now, for making payments. Due to this reason, they contain our bank account details which hackers can misuse. Mobile phone hacking has increased by 50% in 2019, so the companies are at a greater risk. These smartphones also contain company email account details. Unlike computers, mobile phones are used for every purpose now due to the presence of apps.
- Use of AI:
The threat of cybersecurity has gotten bigger because AI can be used to write malware. So, hackers now have AI at their disposal, which can’t be traced easily. With the use of the internet to sell things, digital data is also a primary concern for companies. With the advent of AI, the software has become more complex and their weaknesses have increased too.Although such data is stored in the server, any bugs and the data is available for misuse. Hence the security of servers is also an important consideration.
Hence every database needs a supervision system so it can’t be hacked.
How should a cyberawareness training program be prepared?
A company must ensure that no one misses the cyber awareness training.
Without it, the employees can commit mistakes, even at the managerial level.
The preparation of the cyber awareness training should include the IT Department head. Also, executives who enter the data into the system and are at severe risk of providing access to confidential data should also provide their inputs for such a program.
Role of the HR department
The Human Resources Department should also spread awareness about the program so everyone attends it. This department can track who attended the program and who missed it.
Apart from ensuring that the program gets implemented well, they can also ensure that the employee feedback is collected on whether they understood everything. Even the test results collection is HR’s job.
The employees are the most crucial weapon in a company’s hands because it cannot monitor everything. But when employees know about the possible attacks and how to thwart them, it can be beneficial.
As far as the cost of the cyber awareness training program is concerned, it is dependent on how large the organization is. With a large organization, there is an extensive risk of making the systems compromised. The big companies need to see that the program is more detailed so that everyone in the organization can understand it. People who understand the cyber awareness training program better can skip some of its levels.
On the other hand, smaller organisations can get a program at a low cost because they don’t have many levels. They only have a few executive staff, so the program must be designed to keep their needs in mind.