A Guide To Cybersecurity Training: Everything You Need To Know

Seven best practices to increase your online shopping security this holiday season.

“I can find an article about cybersecurity tips online.”


This statement is probably true. You might find some pretty insightful articles that can educate even the most novice technology user about cybersecurity attacks. 


I know you sent it in that email at 4:00 pm to the “All Employees” tag. Can you see their open rates? Can you ensure they read through it all, comprehended the key points, and that they took action to deliberately train on what they read?


Online security training, such as Sparx, is the only way to ensure your employees will learn, protect, and defend against cyber threats. Let's talk about everything you need to know about making the cybersecurity training investment.


When making any purchase for your organization, you want to know your return on investment. We will begin with the benefits of cybersecurity training for your organization, employees, and stakeholders.


Benefits of Cybersecurity Training

1. Increasing Employee Awareness

When you give employees the tools they need to succeed, you create a better work environment. Cybersecurity training empowers your employees to become the first line of defense against cyber attacks. Once your employees are trained on these important topics, they will have a culture of security within the organization. This subsequently boosts morale and increases the proper use of cybersecurity best practices.


2. Reducing Threats to your Organization

Selecting the right cybersecurity training topics for your organization is crucial to reducing threats. From social engineering to mobile device security, your employees should be getting educational awareness on topics that pertain to their work. Sparx online security awareness trainings are created by Wildcard’s cybersecurity professionals and subject matter experts. These trainings are reviewed regularly for improvements and to keep up with the ever-evolving threats.

There should also be training that helps employees understand the importance of access controls. When dealing with sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information, your employees need to understand the weight this data holds. There are several legal implications, including compliance standards, federal and state laws, and regulations surrounding the proper handling of PII. Cybersecurity awareness training will help employees protect data and other assets within your organization.


3. Preventing Attacks on your Organization

By investing in cybersecurity awareness training, you are creating proactive practices against cyber attacks. Now when phishing emails arrive in employee inboxes, they know not to click on links. If an in-person attack is underway, the front desk attendant knows not to give physical access to unauthorized visitors. Data breaches will be harder for attackers to execute since your organization is trained and aware of these types of social engineering attacks. Implementing cybersecurity training will also help prevent adverse results on penetration tests, simulated phishing tests, and other vulnerability assessments. The change in reporting for these types of assessments will improve your organization's security posture and help prove the need for this training to stakeholders and executives.


4. Saving Time & Money with a Training Investment

We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again. Cybersecurity training is an investment. Investments always have a return. Empowering your organization with training will save time and money. Your organization becomes socially responsible by training your employees to handle sensitive customer information. This will increase customer trust retention because the threat of data breaches and other attacks is minimized. This saves money because your organization avoids potential civil penalties or lawsuits. According to the IBM Security 2021 Cost of a Data Breach Report, small businesses, those with less than 500 employees, spend an average of $2.98 million per data breach incident. The same report shows an average cost of $5.52 million for organizations with 10,000 - 25,000 employees. Cybersecurity training results allow you to increase buy-in for cybersecurity budgets and spending.


5. Meeting a Piece of Compliance Requirements

Depending on the industry your organization belongs to, there are several compliance requirements you must meet and uphold. Common compliance requirements include:

  • Payment Card Industry Data Security (PCI DSS)
  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
  • Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
  • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
  • California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) 

These compliance regulations are implemented at the federal or state levels depending on the location of your organization. Cybersecurity compliance training courses are a great way to ensure employee awareness of these requirements. While training course certificates do not verify full compliance with security standards such as PCI DSS or HIPAA, training platforms are a stepping stone towards a piece of the compliance framework.

 

Sparx | Online Security Training for your Organization

Sparx is an online security training platform created as an affordable option for organizations to educate their personnel about security best practices. With Sparx, you can build the knowledgeable, cyber-aware workforce you need to protect your organization. 


Wildcard built Sparx with your organization in mind. The platform allows you to swiftly manage employees, create departments, and easily track completed certifications. Our security training courses are curated by experienced cybersecurity professionals and work to educate personnel about common security threats and what actions they can take to reduce risks to your organization. 


The Sparx course library and the simplistic user interface are designed to meet the training requirements of any size organization. Sparx covers extensive security training topics, including:

  • PCI Security Awareness 
  • General Security Awareness 
  • Phishing Security Awareness
  • Password Guidelines
  • Social Engineering
  • Safe Remote & Mobile Computing
  • Insider Threats Awareness
  • PII Security 
  • Work from Home Security
  • Social Media Security

With a one-year subscription to Sparx, your organization will have 24/7 access to the platform, course material, and supporting documents for a full 12 months. As compliance regulations change, Wildcard will update course content and supporting documents to reflect the most up-to-date revisions. 


Cybersecurity is everyone’s job when it comes down to the basics. These are the tiny changes in security habits we can make in our online routine that promotes a safer and more secure online experience. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, every 39 seconds, there is a hacker attack. The risk of a successful attack on your personal or work systems could be detrimental to your organization, so let’s get in the mindset to put cybersecurity first. 


Learn more about how Sparx can benefit your organization at https://sparx.academy.