Why Invest in Cybersecurity Awareness Training For Employees?

The overwhelming majority of data breaches result from a hacker tricking an otherwise dedicated employee into making a critical mistake. Year after year, studies indicate that more than 80 percent of all cybersecurity failures can be traced back to human errors. After integrating enterprise-level antivirus software, robust firewalls, and onboarding experts to monitor your system, the only thing left to do is provide cybersecurity awareness training for employees. The alternative would involve becoming part of the following statistics.

• More than 420 million people in the U.S. had their business and personal data compromised in 2022.
• The average cost of a ransomware attack exceeded $4.5 million in 2022, according to an IBM report.
• U.S. companies experienced the highest number of cyberattacks of any country in 2022.

The number of cybercrimes in the U.S. has increased significantly in recent years. A lack of cybersecurity training for employees has contributed to many of the losses companies sustained. This holds particularly true of cybersecurity awareness for small businesses because online thieves take advantage of limited budgets and, sometimes, subpar defenses. By better understanding how a cybersecurity awareness program works, and its long-term benefits, industry leaders may be more inclined to invest in their dedicated employees.

What is Cybersecurity Awareness Training?

Cybersecurity employee training invites frontline workers into a culture that emphasizes network protection, customer care, and protecting valuable, sensitive information. Hackers typically search business networks for bank account numbers, financial assets, and personnel identity information such as Social Security numbers.

In many respects, cybersecurity awareness training for employees educates them on ways to protect the organization, their jobs, and personal information that could be sold on the dark web. The process typically involves in-person seminars, online forums, learning-oriented tests, and receiving ongoing updates about emerging threats relayed from a third-party cybersecurity expert.

Benefits of Cybersecurity Awareness Training for Employees

It’s sad to say that only about 11 percent of businesses put cybersecurity awareness training on their checklist, despite the threats to remote workforces and the increase in employee-focused phishing schemes. Those are also reasons so many organizations suffer data breaches. If you want to stop being the low-hanging fruit for hackers to pluck, these rank among the expected benefits of cybersecurity awareness training.

1: Helps Ensure Regulatory Compliance

Government regulations surrounding the protection of personal records place a serious burden on companies to safeguard their data. The mandates included in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) require determined defenses. When employees are unclear about following the necessary procedures for HIPAA, CMMC, and other rules, that places the organization in harm’s way. A data breach could result in company losses and hefty fines for compliance failures. Providing cybersecurity awareness training for employees helps avert these issues.

2: Enhance Customer & Vendor Confidence

It’s important to keep in mind that organizations are connected via the internet. Should a cybercriminal penetrate one company’s network, the thieves usually find information that helps them breach others in your orbit. Studies indicate that customers impacted by a business’s data breach either ended their relationship or lost confidence in the brand.

The same feelings hold true of vendors who trust your organization with login credentials, credit card access, and other digital information. One of the top benefits of cybersecurity awareness training is knowing your people are not likely to ruin your reputation.

3: Prevent Unnecessary Downtime

Although not every incursion results in lengthy work stoppages, targeted attacks with ransomware cost businesses weeks, not days. But even seemingly minor security breaches result in downtime as managed IT teams and cybersecurity professionals eliminate threats that should never have snuck through your defenses. The average total cost of downtime hovers around $88,000 per hour or $1,410 a minute.

As an industry leader, it may be worth calculating your potential downtime losses for just one week. After taking a long hard look at that figure, add in the cost of regulatory fines, customer losses, vendors that discontinue business dealings, and the hit to your personal and professional reputation. The value of cybersecurity awareness training for employees cannot be understated.

What a Cybersecurity Consultant Can Do for Your IT Security

At CyberTeam, our managed IT and cybersecurity consulting experts have the experience and technology to protect your company from a data breach. We provide risk assessments and educational resources to improve your security culture. We can help turn vulnerable employees into a front line of defense against hackers. Contact us today and let’s get the process started.