How to plan a Security Awareness Program?

An organization has data of their clients as well as the employees working in it. Therefore, data security for any company is critical as it ensures the safety of all data. The security awareness program is excellent for teaching employees how to avoid a situation that might put the organization’s data at risk. In addition, these programs increase the implementation of security-friendly practices among the employees.

Security awareness programs should be held for all departments and every employee irrespective of their designation.

What is Security Awareness Program?

Security awareness program ensures that every employee has an adequate level of security know-how along with a sense of responsibility.

The first step in any security awareness program is to implement control by enforcing best practices among your employees. The second part is to understand the current awareness level of your employee by simulating real attack scenarios. The last and the third step is to provide appropriate security awareness and avoiding any weak links.

1. Break training Into chunks

For an effective phishing awareness program, it is better to break the training into smaller parts. This will ensure that employees are not loaded with too much information at one go. Starting with a fun, video or game will be more engaging and will impart better awareness.

2. Proper training to right people

Training the employee according to designation and the type of data and access should be carried out. The organization should give the employees a real-life example in the training program to make it more relevant and practical.

3. Practice in a systematic manner

An organization needs to have a checklist so that the awareness practices are followed throughout the organization systematically. The checklist can include:

What precautions should be taken when a new hire starts(or when someone leaves the organization)?
Measures to be taken when breaches or phishing scams occur
How to communicate to the clients and other stakeholders in the event of a phishing attack?
Actions to be taken during infringement or phishing

4. Topic to be covered under training

The content of the training is significant. It can include safe interest habits of the employee or safe use of social media, laws, and regulations, and data privacy practices. Training about why personal information is so essential and how to handle and dispose of them.

During training, it is essential to make the employee aware of the rules and regulations of the organization. Safe internet habits should be a part of training as work from home is the new norm. Secure browsing techniques should be taught to the employee.

5. Identify the limitation

Identify the perception of the employee about data security; this will help to understand any roadblocks. This will also help to know whether the employee is supporting your program or not. Getting feedback on the security awareness program is also one of the methods to identify limitations.

6. Partner for proper support

Instead of juggling how to provide the proper training to the employee, an organization can partner with the right cybersecurity company. A good data security company will give relevant content resources and a team for handling the training program.

7. Relevant content

Relevant content about security needs should be provided to every employee of an organization. This will come in handy to the training department also. The content can include-

A security handbook (this will include all guidelines and precautionary measure)
Position based guidelines (what each employee needs to know about security based on their designation)
Training program (for interns and well as an employee)

8. Detection and Control

No matter how good the program is, the organization can still face some data security issues at some point. Control to detect such attacks is vital to ensure the smooth running of an organization.

9. Rewards

Rewards for exhibiting proper behavior when it comes to data security should be given. For example, if an employee reports any breach, he or she should be rewarded. Furthermore, the reward given should be known to every employee working in the organization. This will promote the importance of cybersecurity.

10. Tracking the outcomes of the training

Measuring the effectiveness of any program helps to improve it and find the loopholes if any. The training outcome can be tracked by various means like incident reported by employees or by direct assessment of the employee knowledge. Tracking the percentage of phishing emails are also an excellent method to track the training outcomes.

11. Frequency of the training

Every time a new employee joins, an overview of how the organization handles data security should be given. Similarly, if an employee falls for phishing emails, he or she should be trained. Such incidences are an excellent opportunity to know the real problem and ways to tackle it. Awareness is not a one-time activity; it should be done until safe practices become a part of its culture.

Although Data security is considered just a technical problem, it’s also a people’s problem. Therefore, making them aware of the safe practices and carrying out a training program is something every organization should do.

In addition to actionable reporting metrics, ProPHISH teaches and evaluates end users through automated phishing simulation test and quality security awareness training. ProPHISH provides you with the tools to promote security awareness thanks to its adaptability and customization possibilities. To learn more about our best-in-class anti-phishing solution, contact us.