Effective Cybersecurity Training With The New GoCyber App

By Alfred Rolington, Cybersecurity Expert

What has become very apparent in the last few years is that all employees, from senior management to part-timers, are the largest cybersecurity vulnerability that any organization faces. With the Covid-19 global pandemic forcing millions of office workers to become remote workers this has created a “perfect tsunami” for cybercriminals seeking to exploit the crisis and penetrate corporate defenses via unsecured home networks.

Businesses investing heavily in cybersecurity often base their investments on technology, but don’t sufficiently attend to the human side of the problem, which is a very important issue and requires cybersecurity training and engagement for all employees.

What also has become clear is that effective employee cyber training will reduce security costs, improve an organization's future commercial strategy, and will help to protect it against cyberattacks, hacking, fake news, and negative brand PR security.

The reason why employees are so important for operations security is that often cybercriminals will perform attacks on an organization using phishing emails and similar tactics, making employees the first line of defense that needs to be strengthened.

Employees are also the ones with everyday access to many of the organization’s computers, networks, and systems, which means they play an important part in building resilience in the threat landscape. Recent analysis by Cyber Security Intelligence has shown that over half of most organizations employees have not received effective cybersecurity training, so it’s no surprise for instance that 96 percent of them still save passwords on their devices so they can ‘remember them’.

HR professionals are uniquely positioned to understand the role of trained employees in cyber risk mitigation and to mediate solutions for an organization’s cybersecurity challenges. However, they often do not have expertise in cybersecurity training, and they may lack the understanding of all general employee expertise in cyber defense.

Each aspect of the organization knows part of the solution but understandably none know the whole solution and often the result is disjointed and dysfunctional education and training.

Cyber Attacks And Fraud

Currently, cybercriminals are after identity resources such as social security numbers, credit card information, and login credentials. These can be used to impersonate or steal directly from the organization and cyberattacks are being used to steal, monitor, and influence most organizations via their management and employees.

Cyber-attacks have cost U.S. businesses over $650 billion in 2019 and U.K. businesses have lost almost $40 billion in the past 12 months due to cybersecurity attacks, hacks, and related security incidents.

Currently, almost 75 percent of firms are ranked as mere 'early starters' in terms of cyber readiness.

Most Directors and Boards are often ignorant of the dangers of hackers as they rely on and trust in their IT Department’s ability to keep their organizations safe. To stay safe within their organization's protocols IT managers sometimes hide the system's weaknesses and are under pressure to reduce costs.

Training is also an issue for the whole organization and employee education is the best way to tackle these types of threats.

Only around 27 percent of organizations have trained their employees in the last 12 months. This should be done on a more frequent basis and doesn’t take up much time but keeps them on the cyber moment as the technology and the methods of attack change and become more sophisticated.

Cyber Security Training For All Employees

Nevertheless, we have found a cybersecurity training experience for employees that works. GoCyber is a new, innovative cybersecurity training app created out of a unique partnership with Me Learning – an established provider of digital training to the U.K. local government and the MOD – and Lumen Consulting Group – a tech provider from Silicon Valley who uses its training app to develop employee engagement programs for international enterprises, including Gap and Nike.

Collectively they have drawn on their expertise to develop a unique and new, ‘learn by doing’ approach to cybersecurity training.

One of the major issues that has become apparent and is not focused upon enough is the need for real-time cyber training.

Cybersecurity training needs to take place within all organizations to significantly reduce the chances and risks of criminal success that are using cyberattacks and hacking methods to steal your data, money, company secrets, and login information.

Cybersecurity training needs to be more than a mere annual necessity. It needs to be an interactive and engaging experience that will solidify its role in the security posture of the organization.

GoCyber integrates learning into the flow of work - and asks users to commit to 10 minutes a day for 10 days at a time that suits them. Its’ action-based approach combines thought-provoking material with social learning, gamification, and achievable actions. Users learn by doing. And the impact is impressive.

Collectively organizations see an immediate impact on the way employees approach their own, and their company’s online safety. Learning is re-enforced by a monthly step. Leading cyber experts have contributed to the content.

This is a very effective and engaging new cyber training app that has been created by GoCyber for all employees from part-time to senior executives and it has been tested by some prominent organizations. We at Cyber Security Intelligence recommend its use to all organizations.

For a free trial please contact Cyber Security Intelligence (www.cybersecurityintelligence.com ) or directly to GoCyber by contacting hello@go-cyber.com . Or see this short video for more info https://player.vimeo.com/video/415570911.

About The Author

Professor Alfred Rolington is a cybersecurity expert located in the U.K. Visit Cyber Security Intelligence for more information.