What is Security Awareness Training?

Security awareness training is a proactive strategy that strengthens your cybersecurity defenses by equipping your employees with the information they need to avoid errors that open the door to hackers. Employees who participate in security awareness training learn about subjects such as safe device and password practices, how to identify phishing and other social engineering attacks, and how to report potential threats for investigation.

Benefits of Security Awareness Training

As IT infrastructures become more decentralized with an ever-escalating number of endpoints, threat actors have a larger attack surface than ever before. You rely on your employees to guard the various points of entry that hackers can exploit, but as cyberattack methods become more sophisticated, it becomes harder and harder for the average employee to spot a potential threat.

Our security awareness training:

  • Educates employees on the latest cyber threat tactics
  • Increases employees’ ability to spot threats
  • Builds security habits that strengthen your business’ defenses
  • Provides ongoing training to support a cyber-conscious work culture

NexusTek Security Awareness Training Services

Security Education Sessions

  • Training sessions raise security awareness by presenting video vignettes about actual cyberattacks that companies have experienced, discussing how employee error came into play and how to avoid such errors.
  • Employees learn the “do’s and don’ts” of passwords and authentication, along with review of actual security incidents that clarify why poor practice in this area is so risky.

Threat Identification Exercises

  • Security awareness training sessions acquaint your employees with the many subtle indicators that a communication such as email, text message, or voicemail might be malicious.
  • Mock communications, such as fictitious emails, are presented in training sessions, allowing employees to practice assessing whether the communication is benign or malicious, with immediate feedback on their performance.

Threat Reporting Guidelines

  • In addition to teaching employees to spot potential threats, security awareness training sessions also explain the importance of reporting possible cyber threats to IT rather than simply ignoring the threat.
  • Training sessions also provide visual guidance that helps your employees learn how to use their email platform to report potential phishing attempts.

Simulated Phishing Attacks

  • Employees receive fake phishing emails tailored to your company’s environment, giving them the chance to put their security awareness training to the test—will they take the bait or spot the threat? An automated response tells them right away if they passed or failed the test.
  • Results of repeated simulated phishing attacks allow you to measure the performance of your employees as a group, evaluate the effectiveness of your security awareness training program, and identify individual employees who may need additional training.

Why NexusTek for Security Awareness Training?

As the number one source of cyber risk for businesses, employees need security awareness training that will sink in and make a difference in their on-the-job behavior. The perfunctory annual classroom session that many organizations use to train employees does not deliver the learning outcomes you need to keep your business safe. With NexusTek’s security awareness training, your employees receive educational content that is formatted and delivered according to practices that work. Your employees receive up-to-date information through novel, engaging presentations that grab their attention, delivered on the regular schedule experts recommend for maintaining employee awareness and vigilance.

 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can security awareness training help to prevent ransomware attacks?

Yes, and in fact, security awareness training is one of the most important components of a cybersecurity program when it comes to defending against ransomware attacks. This is because in most cases, ransomware attacks start when employees are subject to phishing attacks or other forms of social engineering, in which cybercriminals aim to trick employees into divulging their credentials or downloading malicious programs by opening attachments or clicking on links in emails. When an employee falls for the trick, this gives the threat actor a “foot in the door” with your network, which they can take advantage of to launch a full ransomware attack, a nightmare to deal with in the best of cases and a fatal blow to your business in the worst. Security awareness training provides employees with regular exposure to concepts and skills tests that hone their abilities to spot potentially malicious communications, making it one of the most important components in your defense strategy against ransomware attacks.

How can security awareness training help with social engineering attacks?

Social engineering is a term that refers to cyberattack strategies that use psychological manipulation to induce employees to engage in behaviors that create “cracks” in a company’s cyber defenses in different ways. For example, threat actors may send an email (i.e., phishing) that induces employees to download a file, which then installs malware on the company’s system. Or threat actors may send a text message that encourages employees to click on a link that leads to a form that requests their login credentials.

The defining feature of social engineering, however, is manipulative communication that plays upon employees’ natural emotions. For example, an email may communicate a request, apparently from an authority figure of the employee’s company, with an urgent deadline. An email might offer some sort of reward that needs to be claimed quickly, or it might warn of undesirable consequences if the recipient doesn’t complete an action within a short timeline. By creating a sense of urgency or pressure, threat actors try to trick employees into acting without thinking. Because social engineering is solely focused on inducing employee error, security awareness training is the best way to reduce this type of cyber threat.

How do threat actors trick employees?

Hackers use an ever-changing bag of tricks to manipulate employees, such as:

  • Sending authentic-looking emails that appear to be from authority figures
  • Creating feelings of pressure or urgency to act now
  • Requesting credentials or other sensitive information
  • Prompting the employee to click on links or download attachments

How does security awareness training help?

NexusTek’s security awareness training includes objectives such as:

  • How to authenticate email sources even when they look genuine
  • How to spot suspicious emotional appeals
  • Differentiating between acceptable and risky requests for information
  • How to determine if a link or attachment is safe or risky