Why Real-Time Security Training is Missing in Your Cyber Security Strategy

Posted by Trevagh Stankard on Tue, Jun 7th, 2022

You can have the best cybersecurity defenses in place, but attackers can still manage to bypass them from just one human error. Employees, vendors, and other people are the biggest risk to your organization’s continuity and data security. If you aren’t training your employees, you could be missing the biggest vulnerability. Training greatly reduces risk and can mean the difference between an employee that stops and reports a phishing email and one that allows ransomware to be installed on your network.

Phishing is the Number One Threat to Your Business

The biggest data breaches making headlines often start with a phishing attack. Phishing attacks focus on stealing credentials, stealing sensitive data, or tricking users into downloading malware. The malware in these attacks is typically ransomware because it forces the targeted victim into giving the attacker money in exchange for their efforts. Social engineering sometimes plays a role in these attacks, but even these methods also work with phishing emails.

With phishing attacks, you rely on users to differentiate between a legitimate message and a malicious one. Without training, users are not equipped to recognize a phishing email. Phishing is a business for many attackers, so they create messages that look extremely convincing to an unsuspecting recipient. For sophisticated attacks, the phishing email will have a link to a business-related web page to trick users into divulging their credentials by telling them to log into their account.

Phishing is extremely effective because it relies on human error. As with any procedures where employees are responsible for every action, mistakes happen. Even administrators familiar with cybersecurity sometimes fall victim to these attacks. It only takes one mistake for an entire organization to lose its data or lose access to data from a successful ransomware attack.

The Importance of Cybersecurity Training

Cybersecurity training has several components, but the most important factor is that it gives employees the tools to recognize an attack. Training usually involves several classes to provide a variety of examples. Training might involve books, simulations, and webinars. The training provides employees with a basic understanding of cybersecurity and why it’s important to protect sensitive data.

In some phishing attacks, the organization is specifically targeted rather than a part of thousands of outgoing emails. These sophisticated spear-phishing attacks can be especially dangerous for organizations that haven’t held any training sessions for their employees. These attacks use corporate logos and other elements that would make messages look like legitimate corporate emails. These messages are common in credential phishing attacks where users are tricked into divulging their corporate username and password, giving the threat actor remote access to the network.

In other sophisticated attacks, email messages contain malicious attachments. Without any training, a targeted user would not know that running macros embedded in document attachments or executing scripts could leave their device vulnerable to malware. Usually, malicious attachments download other malware such as ransomware or rootkits. Both can be devastating to organizations. Ransomware holds data hostage until a payment is made to the attacker, and rootkits provide remote control access to an attacker so that they can use the device to browse the network and run additional malicious applications.

Phishing Simulation Strategies Help Stop Data Breaches

You can tell a user how to detect phishing attacks, but simulations are far more effective. Simulation exercises send dozens of email messages to unsuspecting employees and monitors the number of users who open the email, those who click links, and the employees who are successfully tricked into entering their credentials into a fake corporate web page.

Statistics are given to the organization so that they can offer further training to any employees who enter credentials. Users who click on links can also be trained further so that they are better equipped at detecting phishing so that they do not click malicious links. These statistics help organizations realize their significant lack of employee training so that they can see the necessity for cybersecurity training.

For organizations dependent on compliance, an employee falling for a phishing scam can be an expensive mistake. Phishing simulation tools ensure that employees recognize suspicious messages and know what to do with them. Most organizations ask users to report messages and never click links or respond to senders.

To aid in phishing protection, organizations can implement email cybersecurity to stop malicious messages from ever reaching any recipients. Together with phishing simulation and training, organizations greatly reduce risk and can limit vulnerabilities from email-based attacks.

Real-Time Security Awareness Training

SafeTitan delivers Security Awareness Training that transforms your staff into a human firewall creating the strongest line of defence against cyber threats.  SafeTitan is the only behavior-driven security awareness platform that delivers training in real-time, allowing you manage the growing problem of social engineering and advanced phishing attacks.

If you’re ready to maximize your ability to secure your business and employees to minimize security Incidents and related costs then take a closer look at SafeTitan today.