At the heart of it, cybersecurity preparedness is a team effort, not necessarily a singular one. Everyone must be aware of and engaged in cybersecurity best practices. As such, cybersecurity training for employees is a necessity. To help you ensure that your cybersecurity training is as effective as possible, we’ve put together a couple of curriculum design tips and tricks to keep in mind.
The Purpose of Cybersecurity Training: Awareness
The number one factor that must be emphasized for your training is awareness, so if you can educate your team on how to deal with threats, you’ll be one step closer to achieving your security goals. We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to know the full scope of some of these threats, including how common they are and how often small businesses are both targeted and fall victim to them. To make this training as effective as possible, consider the following steps.
How to Effectively Train Your Team Members
First, you must understand what your employees do and don’t know about cybersecurity. Are they aware of the risks they face and how to identify them? Do they pay attention to these risks and give them the respect they deserve? You must make sure that these benchmarks are met before you proceed with your training so that your employees understand the gravity of the situation.
Adjust Your Training to Their Needs
Now that you know what your team needs for training, you can shape the training around those needs to address strengths and shortcomings. If you can customize your training to challenge the perspectives of your employees, you can show them ways to improve. If all you do is tell them what they already know, you’re not spreading wisdom—you’re doing the exact opposite. Be sure to adjust your training needs based on the different learning styles of your employees.
Don’t Rely on Scaring Them
Fear can be an effective motivator, but it shouldn’t be the motivator. It can lead to users making mistakes just as often as it can prevent them from making them. Employees often try to cover up mistakes in fear of retaliation or punishment, a practice which can often lead to greater security problems for your company. Inspire them with confidence and reassurance to optimize chances of successful cybersecurity training.
Train, Measure, and Repeat
The final step in this process is to measure the impact of your training and to make adjustments as needed. This takes time, and you will likely make mistakes during the process, but with so many learning styles on the table, you’ll have your work cut out for you. After training, you must be sure to test your employees. When you evaluate their preparedness on a somewhat regular basis, you can identify where your employees still need improvement.
