Follow these 10 steps for better security training.

1. Quick and to the point

Employees take time out of their daily responsibilities, to respect their time, keep it short for better security training.

The most common feedback from this type of training is that it is too long.

Whether it’s video training or a slideshow presentation – try to make sure that it is eye-catching for better security training.

2. Use new material

If you want employees to take an interest and take the matter seriously, don’t re-use old material that they may already have seen.

Technology and security are rapidly changing. Security training is an opportunity to teach your employees relevant information about how to stay safe online.

Therefore, incorporate recent phishing emails or social engineering techniques.

If the content is new, they will be more interested and engaged compared to viewing generic content.

3. Encourage your team

Training should be a positive experience that leaves the participant feeling more confident in the subject topic.
If mistakes are made after training, use them as an opportunity to learn and grow.

The culture you want to develop is one where employees are not afraid to report.

Employees should feel confident to alert someone if they witness unauthorized access to files, equipment and whenever they suspect wrongdoing.

4. Adapt your training to the role

Don’t take up an employee’s afternoon to advise them on how to spot a fake email if they don’t use a computer in their role.

Instead, consider their role and how they can help to respond in certain types of situations. Consider giving clear security roles, with duties that match their work description.
Ensure that everyone understands their role.
If the training matches real-life, it will be much easier and more personal.

5. Remember to follow up afterwards

Once the training is complete, allot some time to fill out a mandatory questionnaire.

That way, if anyone wasn’t sure but afraid to speak up, you will be able to gauge their opinion. This makes it easier to gauge how successful your training was.

You will be able to determine which areas your presentation needs work.

It could also highlight that some need you to explain a topic in a different way.

An important topic to cover is ensuring everyone knows who to report incidents to.

6. Consider conducting multiple training sessions

Since it is a constantly changing environment and employees are very busy with their day-to-day tasks, most will forget everything they learned several months later.
To foster a culture of security, consider holding a training session every 6 months or less.

7. Remind everyone why it’s important

Emphasis should be on the risk that a security breach poses to the company, such as data loss, vandalism and lost revenue due to down-time. Users should understand that their actions can have consequences and to be careful when clicking on links, visiting websites or using external media such as a USB drive.

8. Let everyone know how important they are

Your employees are your first line of defense when it comes to the security of your business.
Don’t see them as the risk, instead view them as the guardians.
Teach skills to enhance your employee’s privacy and security in their personal online lives and it can reflect in their work life.
For example, emphasise that these same skills can be applied to protect their family when they are online too.

9. Make sure everyone is on-board

When you are conducting the training, you want to make sure everyone in the company is on the same boat as you. Consider ditching the statistics and discuss how your company would be affected.

I’ll give an example:

Your company deals with invoices, a supplier gets hacked and sends an invoice to an employee to be paid to a wrong address.

In this scenario, your employees need to be very diligent to recognise inconsistencies.

If your training is a success, they will question this invoice, call the company to verify – or report it to IT to investigate.

10. Aim to inspire and motivate for better security training

To finish the training, users should feel good and be reminded about how they are in an important position.

Let them know they are sharing a common mission with their coworkers towards success.

This could be the key to ensure they keep their company safe and prosperous.

At Total Supportwe encourage clients to report – whenever they are unsure about something.

Want to learn about better security training? Get in touch!

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