Research
into Google's online search habits for cybersecurity training for employees has
risen significantly over the past four years, according to the latest analysis
by global compliance eLearning provider, DeltaNet International.
Searches online for
‘cybersecurity training for employees' have risen 114% over the past four years
(between years ending Aug 2022 - Aug 2019). As a result, organisations are
taking a step in the right direction to improve their cybersecurity compliance
across their workforce. Further data revealed a significant increase for
‘cybersecurity awareness training' of 66% in the same period.
The surge in demand for
cybersecurity awareness training comes amid continuous shortages for
cybersecurity skills, suggesting employers are looking to their entire
workforce to be more cyber aware to reduce the likelihood of cyber-attacks.
Research into the UK cybersecurity labour market
revealed that half (51%) of all private sector businesses identify a basic
technical cyber security skills gap, accounting for around 697,000 businesses.
According to recent
findings by Interisle, phishing attacks have
increased by 61% in the past year to more than one million attacks. With
the rise of phishing attacks, it is no surprise that searches related to
‘phishing awareness training for employees' have grown 72% over the past four
years. However, it's also interesting that searches around ‘phishing simulation
for employees' surged by 62% in the same period. This shows that organisations
recognise the importance of educating employees on phishing attacks and testing
them to ensure they have understood the training.
Worryingly, IBM's recent
cost of a data breach report
revealed the global average cost of a data breach increased to USD 4.35 million
in 2022, an increase of 2.6% from 2021. The cost of non-compliance and falling
victim to data breaches is too expensive, especially with the report revealing
that human errors were responsible for 21% of breaches.
Jason Stirland, CTO at
DeltaNet International, commented, "While training is certainly not a
replacement for skilled cybersecurity professionals, these statistics highlight
the need for improving general cybersecurity awareness training among
employees. Organisations cannot just rely on cybersecurity professionals to
safeguard the businesses' infrastructure and protect their data. Training
employees is a step in the right direction, but the job is nowhere near done.
For example, testing employees with phishing simulation messages are integral
to the learning process. As a result, IT and HR teams can understand which
employees might be a higher risk and therefore require further training and
support.
"Employees across the
board, from HR to finance, access critical data, so training everyone in the
business on cybersecurity awareness issues, from understanding how to spot
phishing attempts to preventing data breaches, is vital. Cybersecurity is not
just an issue for the IT and security teams in organisations; it's an HR issue.
Educating employees on cybersecurity awareness training should be refreshed
yearly as part of an organisation's compliance training program and shouldn't
wait until a data breach has occurred.
Research from the World
Economic Forum revealed that 59% of
cyber leaders said they would find it challenging to respond to a cybersecurity
incident due to the skills shortage within their team. With the cybersecurity
skills gap, organisations will remain at risk in protecting their
infrastructures.
Jason continued, "While
businesses should have robust security systems in place, a compliant culture
should exist throughout the company to reduce risk. In addition, cybersecurity
requires accountability from all employees, and the workers will only understand
this if they are trained on its importance and know how to act.
"Over the past year,
organisations across the globe have been dealing with employees returning to
the workplace, navigating office-based, remote and hybrid workers.
Unfortunately, many businesses forget the importance of training their
hybrid and remote workers about cybersecurity best practices - weakening the
organisation's resilience to any security breaches. IT and HR professionals
should identify any skills gaps in the organisation and ensure all employees
understand their role in safeguarding the organisation's infrastructure and
protecting its data."
Against this backdrop of
increasing demand for cybersecurity skills and training, DeltaNet International
is providing free access to a set of 17 Cybersecurity Awareness eLearning
courses for businesses to improve their cybersecurity and phishing training for
all employees during National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which takes place
throughout October 2022.
In support of the
awareness month, the 17 training courses created for all employees will be
available for free for seven days and include:
- Phishing Awareness
- Keeping information secure
- Setting a secure password
- Preventing a data breach
To access the free
courses, sign up here
by 31st October
2022 for free access to the platform for seven days.