Preventing Data Breaches with Cyber Awareness Training

Cyber awareness training is an essential security strategy for every company. Even with the most robust IT security systems, today’s organizations face an increasing risk of being compromised due to human error and deceptive social engineering attacks such as phishing emails.

 

If your employees don’t know how to spot or handle such attacks, then they expose your business to a potentially devastating cyberattack.

 

In this blog post, we explore the importance of cyber threat awareness, the role of phishing simulations and the top cybersecurity training solutions available to help you prevent data breaches.

 

What is Cyber Awareness Training?

Cyber awareness training is a structured program designed to educate employees on cybersecurity best practices, including how to recognize and respond to potential threats. These programs aim to build a security-conscious culture within an organization, ensuring that every member understands their role in protecting sensitive information.

 

Examples of common cybersecurity training topics include:

• Password security
• Safe internet practices
• Identifying phishing attempts
• Email security
• Proper data handling procedures

 

How Employee Training is Administered

Cybersecurity training can be administered in several different ways. Traditionally, internal IT security teams were tasked with conducting training for new employees as part of the onboarding process, as well as the routine training for existing employees. However, this can be taxing for already-strapped IT departments. Today, web-based training platforms can make this process more efficient and effective, as we illustrate below.

 

Examples of training options:

 

• Internal IT-led training programs
• On-site or off-site security workshops
• Online cyber awareness training solutions
• Training videos
• Quizzes
• Mock cyberattacks and test simulations

 

An increasingly important component of cyber awareness training is a phishing simulation, which enables organizations to test their employees’ ability to identify phishing attacks. (Further below, we explain how these exercises work and ways to deploy them effectively.)

 

Why Cyber Awareness Training is Important

Cyber threat awareness is vital for several reasons:

 

1. Human Error: The majority of data breaches occur due to human error. Cybersecurity training helps minimize mistakes by educating employees on best practices and potential threats.
2. Evolving Threat Landscape: Cyber threats are constantly evolving and using increasingly deceptive tactics. Regular training ensures that employees stay up-to-date with the latest threats and defensive techniques.
3. Regulatory Compliance: Many industries have regulatory requirements for cybersecurity training. Implementing a comprehensive training program helps organizations meet these obligations and avoid potential fines.
4. Enhanced Security Culture: A well-informed workforce creates a security-aware culture, where employees take proactive steps to protect sensitive information and reduce the risk of breaches.
5. Increased Security Posture: Routine training increases a company’s cyber resilience and creates additional layers of defense against social engineering attacks that can evade traditional IT security technology.

 

A Closer Look at Phishing Attacks

Phishing attacks are among the most dangerous threats that employees need to be aware of. These attacks involve emails that are disguised as trustworthy messages to deceive individuals into revealing sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, credit card details and other sensitive data.

 

Here’s how phishing attacks typically work:

 

1. Deceptive Emails: Attackers send fraudulent emails that appear to come from legitimate sources, such as banks, social media platforms, well-known companies or even coworkers at the same company. These emails often use official logos, language and email addresses that closely resemble those of the legitimate entities.
2. Malicious Links or Attachments: The phishing email may contain links to fake websites designed to steal login credentials or attachments that, when opened, install malware on the victim’s device. The goal is to trick the recipient into clicking on the link or downloading the attachment.
3. Social Engineering: Phishing attacks often employ social engineering tactics to manipulate the victim’s emotions, such as creating a sense of urgency or fear. For example, an email might claim that the recipient’s account has been compromised and prompt them to reset their password immediately.
4. Harvesting Information: Once the victim clicks on the malicious link or downloads the attachment, they are directed to a fake website that prompts them to enter their login credentials or other sensitive information. The attacker then harvests this information for malicious purposes, such as identity theft or unauthorized access to accounts.
5. Data Breaches & Cyberattacks: Successful phishing attacks can open the door to additional data breaches or cyberattacks. With access to sensitive information, attackers may conduct further exploitation, such as deploying ransomware, initiating business email compromise (BEC) schemes or infiltrating other systems within the organization.

 

Common Types of Phishing Attacks

Phishing attacks come in various forms, each tailored to exploit different vulnerabilities and target different individuals at a company. Understanding these types helps in recognizing and defending against them effectively. Here are some of the most common types:

1. Spear Phishing: Unlike generic phishing emails (which are often sent en masse), spear phishing is highly targeted and personalized. Attackers research their victims and craft emails that appear to come from someone the victim knows and trusts, such as a colleague or business partner.
2. Whaling: This type of phishing targets the “big fish” at an organization: high-profile individuals, such as c-suite executives or senior managers. The goal is to gain access to sensitive information or authorize large financial transactions.
3. Clone Phishing: Attackers create a replica of a legitimate email that the victim has previously received. The cloned email contains a malicious link or attachment, and the attacker sends it from an email address that closely resembles the original sender’s address.
4. Vishing: Also known as voice phishing, vishing involves attackers using phone calls to trick victims into revealing sensitive information. The attacker may pose as a representative from the company’s IT security team, a bank, a government agency and so on.

 

Employees don’t necessarily need to memorize all the different types of phishing attacks. But they do need to know how to recognize a suspicious email when they receive one – and what’s at stake if they don’t.

 

This is where phishing simulations can be a powerful training tool for organizations.

 

What is a Phishing Simulation?

Phishing simulations are a critical component of cyber awareness training. These exercises involve sending fake phishing emails to employees to test their ability to recognize and respond to malicious attempts.

 

By mimicking real-world scenarios, phishing simulations help employees develop the skills needed to identify suspicious emails and avoid falling victim to cyberattacks. The results of these simulations provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the training and highlight areas that may need additional focus.

 

The Importance of Phishing Simulations

Phishing remains one of the most common and effective methods used by cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. Phishing simulations play a crucial role in security awareness training by:

 

1. Providing Real-World Experience: Simulations offer employees hands-on experience in identifying and responding to phishing attempts, improving their ability to recognize threats in real life.
2. Identifying Vulnerabilities: The results of phishing simulations help organizations identify weaknesses in their security posture and provide targeted training to address these gaps.
3. Reinforcing Training: Regularly conducting phishing simulations reinforces the lessons learned during training and keeps cybersecurity top-of-mind for employees.
4. Measuring Effectiveness: Phishing simulations provide measurable data on the effectiveness of the training program, allowing organizations to make data-driven decisions for continuous improvement.

 

Top Cyber Awareness Training Solutions

There are several security awareness training solutions available, each offering unique features and benefits. Here are some of the leading solutions on the market today.

 

1. BullPhish ID (Our Top Pick)

BullPhish ID offers comprehensive security awareness training and phishing simulations. It provides customizable training modules, real-time reporting and detailed analytics to track employee performance and identify areas for improvement.

 

Here at Invenio IT, BullPhish ID is the only security training platform we recommend to our clients. It’s a robust platform that can be fully automated and customized to each company’s needs, making it efficient and easily scalable. It offers a constantly growing catalog of training videos, quizzes and other resources, plus powerful phishing exercises. (For more information, request BullPhish ID pricing for your organization.)

 

2. KnowBe4

KnowBe4 is another popular choice for its extensive library of training content, including videos, interactive modules and quizzes. However, in our evaluations, we found it didn’t quite match the robust resources and automation capabilities offered by BullPhish ID.

 

3. Cofense PhishMe

Cofense PhishMe specializes in phishing simulations, providing realistic scenarios and detailed analytics. Like BullPhish ID, Cofense can be integrated with existing security infrastructure, however the platform can have a steep learning curve for some users, especially those unfamiliar with advanced threat intelligence concepts.

 

4. Proofpoint

Proofpoint offers a comprehensive training platform with a focus on behavioral change. We found it to offer engaging content, decent phishing simulations and reporting. But the platform can be expensive compared to other employee training programs, and it may have a steeper learning curve for administrators.

 

5. Terranova

Terranova Security provides multilingual training content and customizable modules, much like BullPhish ID. Its phishing simulation tool offers realistic scenarios and helpful insights into employee behavior. It does offer integration with other tools, but not as seamlessly with the Kaseya solutions we recommend to most businesses, such as Graphus Email Protection and Dark Web ID for dark web monitoring. (Related: See Graphus pricing and Dark Web ID pricing.)

 

Which Solution is Right for You?

Choosing the right security awareness training solution depends on several factors, including the size of your organization, industry-specific requirements and budget. Consider the following when making your decision:

 

1. Content Quality and Variety: Look for solutions that offer high-quality, engaging content that covers a wide range of topics relevant to your organization.
2. Customization Options: Ensure the training can be tailored to your organization’s specific needs and regulatory requirements.
3. Phishing Simulation Capabilities: Choose a solution that offers realistic phishing simulations and detailed reporting to track employee performance.
4. Quizzes: In addition to simulations, quizzes can be a useful tool for measuring whether employees are grasping the concepts from the training.
5. Ease of Use: The platform should be user-friendly and easy to integrate with your existing systems.
6. Integrations: For increased efficiency and holistic protection, look for solutions that can be integrated easily with other security solutions or IT tools used by your organization.
7. Support and Resources: Look for providers that offer strong customer support and additional resources, such as training guides and best practices.

 

BullPhish ID excels in each of these areas, which is why it’s our top pick for most organizations. On top of extensive training content and simulations, the platform stands out for its insightful reports, which summarize training results and identify who needs more help.

 

Cybersecurity Best Practices

In addition to security awareness training and phishing simulations, implementing cybersecurity best practices can help further protect your organization. Here are some of the most important practices to employ, regardless of the company size.

 

1. Regular Software Updates: Ensure all software and systems are regularly updated to patch vulnerabilities and protect against the latest threats.
2. Strong Password Policies: Enforce the use of strong, unique passwords and implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) where possible.
3. Data Encryption: Use encryption to protect sensitive data both in transit and at rest.
4. Access Controls: Implement strict access controls to ensure that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive information.
5. Incident Response Plan: Develop and regularly update an incident response plan to quickly and effectively address security breaches.
6. Back Up Data: Create frequent backups of all data to ensure it can be rapidly recovered after a cyber incident such as ransomware. We recommend Datto SIRIS for most companies, as it offers a fully unified solution for backup and disaster recovery locally and in the cloud. (Get Datto SIRIS pricing.)

 

How to Spot a Phishing Attack: 5 Red Flags

As we’ve illustrated throughout this post, teaching employees how to identify a potential phishing attack is one of the most critical goals of cybersecurity training. But what do those messages actually look like? While some of the tactics can be highly deceptive, there are a few red flags that often stand out:

 

Generic content in the email: Most phishing attacks are sent en masse and are thus intended to trap as many people as possible. As such, the subject lines are often generic and the body of the emails also usually lacks specifics. So if the message contains a generic subject and greeting, users should assume there is a high probability of it being a phishing email.

 

Unknown senders: Employees should be immediately suspicious of any message from an unknown sender, especially if the email is asking the user to log in, click a link, download an attachment or provide other sensitive information. If the sender is unknown but appears to be legitimate, the employee should confirm through other sources if the email is real without directly interacting with it.

 

Suspicious links & attachments: Bad links and attachments are the most common delivery method of malware and phishing schemes. Employees should proceed with caution even if the message comes from a trustworthy source. Tip: hover over any hyperlinks to check that the destination URL is legitimate. Also, never download an attachment from an unknown sender.

 

Spelling & Grammar Errors: Typos and other mistakes are often an intentional strategy used by cybercriminals to evade spam filters and mimic a natural conversational nature. Employees should be suspicious of errors, even if they’re minor.

 

Urgency & Emotion: Fear tactics are commonly used for phishing attacks to trick users into taking action before realizing the message is suspicious. For example, an email might claim that a password needs to be changed, that a login is required immediately and so on. To make matters worse, cybercriminals use spoofed email addresses of company executives to make the message look more urgent. Employees should be suspicious of any such urgency and avoid interacting with the message until they’ve confirmed its legitimacy.

 

FAQs about Cyber Awareness Training

1. What is cyber awareness training?

Cyber awareness training educates employees about recognizing and responding to cybersecurity threats. This training is essential for preventing data breaches and cyberattacks.

 

2. What is the best training for cybersecurity?

The best cybersecurity training combines interactive learning, engaging content, simulation exercises and ongoing assessments that are tailored to specific employee roles and industry needs.

 

3. Is cybersecurity training worth it?

Yes, cybersecurity is a smart investment for every company, as it reduces the risk of costly data breaches, protects company assets and fosters a security-conscious culture, ultimately reducing risk and saving time and resources.

 

4. What is the main purpose of cyber awareness?

The main purpose of cyber awareness is to equip employees with the knowledge and skills to identify and mitigate cybersecurity threats. Making employees aware of cyber threats such as phishing emails reduces their risk of systems being compromised due to the human element, ensuring the safety of organizational data.

 

5. Who needs cyber security awareness training?

All employees, regardless of their role, need cybersecurity awareness training to ensure comprehensive protection across the organization.

 

Conclusion

Preventing data breaches requires a multi-faceted approach that includes both cybersecurity technology solutions and a well-trained workforce. Cyber awareness training and phishing simulations are essential components of this strategy, helping to reduce human error and enhance overall security posture. By investing in the right training solution and implementing best practices, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of data breaches and protect their sensitive information.

 

Deploy the Training You Need to Build Cyber Resilience

Automate your cyber awareness training and prevent a costly data breach. Request BullPhish ID pricing for your organization to learn more. Schedule a meeting with our IT specialists at Invenio IT, call us at (646) 395-1170 or email success@invenioIT.com.