How Often Should Employee Security Awareness Training Happen?

According to research, security awareness training is most effective when done at least two to three times per year. Without any security awareness training, your organization will be more vulnerable to cyberattacks that target your employees.

Human error is a major cause of data breaches. Uninformed employees make mistakes, and training them only once per year isn’t enough to ensure they retain important cybersecurity information.. So, how often should you conduct this training? Let’s find out. 

Remember to update your training to reflect your organization’s most recent dangers. It also helps to keep it from being dull and repetitive. 

What is Security Awareness Training?

Cybersecurity awareness is first and foremost a state of mind. It’s all about how you think and act. It refers to your attitude regarding work and home security, privacy, and risks. It’s also a skill that you can master and improve through time.

It is a continuous process that begins with basic security principles and threats training and progresses to more practical exercises.

The main purpose of security awareness training is to instill in employees a security culture and make them active participants in their security and not unsuspecting victims of cybercrime. 

A well-thought-out security awareness program starts with a thorough assessment of the dangers, goals, objectives, target audiences, and available resources. Because each company is different, with different work cultures, practical exercises are usually influenced by the company culture.

As compliance becomes more common in the workplace, many businesses turn to security awareness training to guarantee that their employees have the right edge and enough knowledge of data protection to comply with the rules.

How Effective is Security Awareness Training?

Awareness training in cyber security is quite effective!  However, it is unreasonable to hope that your employees will never click on a phishing link because of the training. Awareness training in cyber security aids resilience in the face of threats.

It’s easier to respond to a phishing attack if only one person clicks it versus when 100 employees click it. If out of 100 employees, only ten click it, then you can consider your awareness training a success. If out of those 100, 95 reported it, then you’ve honestly accomplished more than you can imagine. 

A well-trained workforce will swiftly report a potential hazard. The sooner you recognize a threat, the more equipped you are to deal with it. After all, security is about people and processes, not just technology.

Finally, keep in mind that security awareness is all about people. So always monitor your team’s overall satisfaction and engagement levels.

How Often Should Employee Security Awareness Training Happen?

When it comes to security awareness schedules, there isn’t a one size fits all answer. But, again, workplace culture plays a part in how often you schedule a training session. The idea is to schedule regular mini-training sessions quarterly or monthly. Performing the training regularly helps keep it fresh in your employees’ minds, but you also don’t want to overwhelm them with too much material at once.

Annual Training

Annual training should occur at least once every year, ideally within the first quarter of the year. The start of the year is the best time to give your employees a refresher on the basics.

Monthly

Once you’ve covered the basics, you can share short videos (think reels and TikTok videos) that cover a trending topic on security. The video should be light and entertaining enough to keep them engaged for the rest of the year while fostering a better security culture.

Quarterly

Put your team’s security awareness to the test each quarter with a game that allows them to practice phishing spotting. Smishing, Work From Home, and other specialist training can be added as video training subjects. This is also an excellent moment to conduct a phishing simulation to see how effective your training is.

How To Train Employees On Security Awareness & Not Have Them Fall Asleep

When developing your Cyber security awareness program, you should remember that:

• You have 10 seconds or less to get their attention.
• They check their phones up to ten times every hour.
• Every 5 minutes, they are interrupted.

With this in mind, here are a few ways to keep your employees engaged and awake during the training

• Remove the small talk and go straight to the point. Use video content that is highly engaging and short.
• Use storytelling to capture their attention and make them more open to learning. 
• Keep it conversational—the less technical, the better. 
• Give them the freedom to control the pace. 
• Make the training resources shareable so they can spread the knowledge amongst their family and friends.
• Make it personal. If they feel personally affected or connected, they are more likely to pay attention.
• Take advantage of their smartphones. Most people are always on their smartphones, so why not conduct training exercises that they can take from their phones?

Update your employee’s security awareness today using Unbound Digital’s training program. Call us at 423-467-7777 or schedule a consultation via our Contact Form.