Cybersecurity Training is a must for every business
Did you know that 32% of all cyber breaches involve some form of phishing, and that end users are the weakest link for all the havoc they cause? Even if your company has the correct processes, procedures and tools, Cybersecurity training must be included in the mix. If the most common areas of cyber risk are not always top of mind for everyone, then your organization is only as strong as its weakest link. All it takes is one malicious email to derail your entire organization. With sufficient Cybersecurity training and education, your users can be your first line of defense, instead of a risk for concern. Here is why everyone from your accountant to your front desk administrator should be enrolled in ongoing Cybersecurity training. Studies have shown that ongoing Cybersecurity training and awareness significantly decreases the likelihood of cyber breaches. On the other hand, companies without Cybersecurity training or awareness are way more likely to experience a cyber breach or phishing attack. See the following results from a study conducted by KnowBe4, and how it illustrates this:
Industries without any Cybersecurity training
Industries with some Cybersecurity training
Industries with ongoing Cybersecurity training after one year
Here are 3 areas of cyber risk that users can come across frequently
- Phishing Emails can appear to be coming from trustworthy sources such as financial institutions, banks or even from people within your company like a co-worker or boss. Despite the numerous news reports of cyber-breaches, many organizations lack the tools to properly train their people for catching these types of emails and handling them appropriately.
- Side Effect: If your business is impacted by a malicious phishing email, the public disclosure of damaging emails can tarnish your business reputation and in some instances become irreparable.
- Side Effect: If your business is impacted by a malicious phishing email, the public disclosure of damaging emails can tarnish your business reputation and in some instances become irreparable.
- Ransomware is commonly spread through phishing emails that contain attachments, links or through drive-by downloads which occurs when a user unknowingly visits a malicious website and malware is installed on their computer.
- Side Effect: Ransomware is a significant threat to your business because it encrypts your data, which prevents you from accessing it. The only way to unlock the data is by using a decryption key that only the hacker controls. Most of the time, the decryption key will be supplied to the organization once a ransom has been paid. This can disrupt business operations and lead to data loss and significant downtime.
- Side Effect: Ransomware is a significant threat to your business because it encrypts your data, which prevents you from accessing it. The only way to unlock the data is by using a decryption key that only the hacker controls. Most of the time, the decryption key will be supplied to the organization once a ransom has been paid. This can disrupt business operations and lead to data loss and significant downtime.
- Computer Viruses like biological viruses are very powerful, can spread around and need a strong remedy to get rid of them. These are harmful computer programs that can be transmitted from device to device. You can pick up computer viruses through everyday web activities like sharing music, files, or photos with other users, visiting an infected website, opening spam emails or an email attachment, downloading free games, toolbars, and installing mainstream software applications without thoroughly reading license agreements.
- Side Effect: Some computer viruses are programmed to harm your computer by damaging programs, deleting files, or reformatting the hard drive. Others simply replicate themselves or flood a network with traffic, making it impossible to perform any internet activity. Even less harmful computer viruses can significantly disrupt your system’s performance, sapping computer memory and causing frequent crashes.
So where can you get cyber training for your employees?
If you’re one of our clients, you can speak directly with the Client Strategy Team to talk about cyber protection tools and training for your staff. There is also a free cyber training course located in “University” in your PACE Portal that you can take advantage of.
PACE has also created several free resources and articles that are publicly available on our website that cover Cybersecurity training and awareness. See the list below:
- Stay up-to-date with the latest COVID-19 Cyber threats: https://pages.pacetechnical.com/en/covid19cybersecuritynews
- FREE Cyber threat training 101: https://pages.pacetechnical.com/cybersecuritywebinar
- Critical Cybersecurity Controls Every Business Needs: https://pages.pacetechnical.com/cybersecurity-controls-webinar-recording
- Common areas of cyber risk your business can avoid right now: https://www.pacetechnical.com/common-areas-cyber-risk-company-can-start-avoiding-right-now/
- Cybersecurity checklist to protect your critical business data: https://www.pacetechnical.com/cybersecurity-awareness-month/
If you have any questions regarding cybersecurity training, then reach out to us here: https://meetings.hubspot.com/lbarrett. We can offer you a FREE IT Gauge that assesses your current Cybersecurity training, strategies, tools and processes and let you know where you stand within your industry, revealing gaps and blind spots that could be affecting the efficiency of your efforts.
