With cyber-crimes and data breaches being a common thing these days, businesses need to incorporate cybersecurity training in their work ethics.
To help businesses deal with such data breach Mercury Solutions Limited which is a premium training centre provides training for CISA certification.Here are 5 innovative cybersecurity training strategies to try in 2021
1. Start with the basics
For many of us not knowing, not only technology but employees can be one of the major reasons for cyber attacks. They might not do it purposely but without correct knowledge of cybercrimes, they might fall into the trap easily. Many times employees trust fake online entities and provide important business information like passwords, financial information, personal information etc Cetera.
So start with providing basic education about different types of cybercrimes to your employees. For instance, spam, phishing, social engineering, ransomware, malware, rainbow table attack, spidering, brute force attack et cetera. To make them understand these cybercrimes better, provide them with real examples. Include case studies and make them aware of how much damage could be done with these attacks.
Also include some cybersecurity tips for your employees in the training so that they can keep your business secured. Explain to them how to not get tricked into downloading malicious software.
2. Gamification of cybersecurity training
Just giving them information about the types of cyber-attacks followed by some examples would not complete the training. You can use competitions, quizzes, games and puzzles to make the training more intriguing. Moreover, it will become much easier for the employees to retain what they are being taught in the training sessions. Here are some ways you can gamify your cybersecurity training:
⦁ Ask questions in between the session to gather the attention of the employees
⦁ Give prizes to those who answer correctly
⦁ Organise monthly or quarterly competitions to test the knowledge of the employees
⦁ Ask your employees to simulate a cyber-attack and let other employees tackle them
⦁ Organise quizzes and puzzles after every training session
⦁ Assign points, badges or rewards to the employees for every successful cybersecurity quest
3. Random testing
Your employees would be prepared to tackle cyber attacks during the training session. But what about real scenarios? You need to test the knowledge of your employees at regular intervals. For that, you can orchestrate a social engineering attack or a phishing attack and see how your employees are responding to it.
You can set a separate database for cybersecurity incidents. Ask your employees to log in to all the incidents in that database. See what all mistakes are being made by your employees and take them in the next training session. This way you can also check the progress of your employees on how well they are understanding cybersecurity issues and whether they are serious about this issue.
Some organisations also collaborate with a third party to test the alertness and awareness of their employees. In every organisation, some areas are restricted. Only authorised personnel such as IT staff or higher management can enter those areas. Many organisations ask third party individuals to try and break into those areas just to check how prepared is their security staff.
4. Set up policies
You can formulate special guidelines for emails, social media and internet usage for the employees. This is because the email and internet browsing habits of employees could be one of the major sources of cyberattacks. Research shows that 92% of the malware is distributed through emails only. You can clarify which links should not be clicked at all and which are safe to use. For instance, a link in an email should not be opened until it is from a trusted source. Similarly, links from unknown people or unknown organisations should not be clicked.
You can also issue guidelines on how employees can use the company email ids or accounts. Also, you need to make your employees aware of your data policies. So make sure you include this in the cybersecurity training. Teach your employees about how to handle the company data and what could be the consequences of not protecting the data of the organisation.
You can also conduct tests or quizzes to check whether employees understand the data protection policies of the company or whether they need a refresher course on the same. A special training session could be arranged on passwords since they are the key to many cyber attacks. Teach your employees how to set strong passwords and the threats associated with weak passwords. Share a few password decoding algorithms with them if you like.
5. Make cybersecurity a priority
The best strategy to ensure your employees understand how important cybersecurity is to make it compulsory for every new employee. New employees are already adjusting to the work environment and are at the most vulnerable stage when it comes to a cyber attack. Beginning from the basics of cybersecurity to all your data policies, explain them all. This way you will be able to showcase to your employees how concerned you are about cybersecurity issues and how prepared you are to tackle the issues. Also, you can eliminate all weak links from your security right from day one. You can share with your employees that cybersecurity is an ongoing process and should not be ignored.
Not only for your business, but you can incorporate cybersecurity training to help your employees keep their data safe and secure. Make them realise that cybersecurity is a serious issue and can be tackled easily by being alert and aware.
The Bottom Line
In this digital age, organisations need to prepare their employees for cybersecurity threats through regular training and workshops. One of the easiest ways to start with is to teach them all the basics of cybersecurity. Including gamification could be a promising way to intrigue your employees. But random testing is also necessary for the employees so that they do not lower their guard against cybersecurity. Implement these innovative cybersecurity training strategies in 2021 and fight against cybersecurity.
Author’s bio - Emma Jackson is specialist in content writing, blogging and exploring new topics. Emma is also a part contributor of GoAssignmentHelp that provides programming assignment help. She loves to write topics like marketing, education and assignment services.
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