The Importance of Educating Employees About Cybersecurity

The Importance of Educating Employees About Cybersecurity

As experts in cybersecurity in Miami, we know the importance of educating employees on cybersecurity. Security awareness training can help prevent cyberattacks and breaches that can cost businesses significant amounts of money each year. 

While training comes at a time and monetary expense, it pays off in the long run.

Let’s look at some of the reasons why it’s important to educate employees on cybersecurity.

Human Error Plays a Major Role in Data Breaches

According to the 2021 IBM Cyber Security Intelligence Index Report, employee error plays a big role in 95% of data breaches.

Educating your staff about cybersecurity can help reduce or eliminate human error. By training your staff on proper cyber hygiene and how to respond to suspicious activity, you can help prevent:

  • Decision-based errors caused by misinformation or lack of knowledge
  • Skill-based errors caused by a lack of knowledge or indifference 

Through training and education, employees can better prevent and respond to attacks.

Education Ensures Everyone Understands Cybersecurity Policies

No organization is safe from a cyberattack. Implementing security policies and controls can help protect against attacks, but they’re only useful if employees understand them.

Through cybersecurity education and training, you can ensure that everyone understands company policies and is on the same page about security. 

Training programs also help staff understand:

  • How frameworks and procedures work together 
  • The most common threats and how to identify them
  • How to respond to problems that may arise

If an employee can identify an issue early on and take action, it can help prevent a large-scale data breach. 

Training and Education Can Protect an Organization’s Finances and Reputation

The average cost of a data breach in the U.S. is $9.44 million, according to IBM. Globally, the average cost is $4.35 million. No matter how you cut it – cyberattacks are expensive.

Failing to educate employees on cybersecurity and proper cyber hygiene can cost your organization big time.

When employees are well-educated on cybersecurity and can quickly identify and respond to threats, it’s much easier to prevent costly breaches. 

Data breaches and cyberattacks, especially at larger scales, can also impact an organization’s reputation. It's more challenging to build trust with clients, customers and prospects when your organization has been the victim of a cyberattack. Should your clients and customers trust your employees with their information and business? An attack may be viewed as a sign of negligence, justified or not.

Compliance Requirements are Often Focused on Employee Training

PCI-DSS and HIPAA compliance have requirements that are often focused on employee training. To protect against a cyberattack, everyone must make an effort – not just the IT team. 

For this reason, compliance requirements often dictate that employees receive proper education and training on cybersecurity protocols.

If an organization must follow compliance requirements, employee education and training will be required.

Education and training in cybersecurity is essential for all members of an organization. The right training program can help prevent an attack and allow the IT department to respond swiftly before an issue escalates into a costly breach.