(3 min read)

First things first: do you need a cyber training budget?

Oh yes. As you can see from our previous blogs, around 90% of successful cyber attacks are caused by a simple human error somewhere down the line. At a time when fraud schemes conducted by cyber criminals are at an all-time high. The National Crime Agency says that phishing attacks are becoming more frequent and that home-grown cyber criminals are becoming a rising threat to businesses and individuals.

So not only do businesses need to budget for cyber security training – they need to do it more than ever. Why? For the following reasons:

Reduce your risk – staff who have had good quality cyber security training pose less risk to your business. If the training is well-structured, your people will understand the risks and be able to change their actions so that they are far more likely to protect your business than do it harm.

It’s a small investment for a big pay-off – if you ask companies how much they invest in IT systems to support cyber security, and then how much they invest in their staff, there will be a huge gap. People always come second to systems in cyber security, but we know that criminals always target the people because that’s where they think the weakness is. So investing in training that saves you from attack is actually the smartest move.

It is a core training item – cyber training has sat on the periphery of training needs for a while. But your customers, suppliers, regulators and other stakeholders will demand that you are taking the potential risks and mitigations seriously. From big-ticket items like ransomware to below-the-radar issues of using personal email for work, good quality, ongoing cyber security training should be a permanent fixture on your training list.

It’s great development for your staff – building a company that takes cyber security seriously has got to be a good thing. It may even help to give you a competitive edge. And it’s certainly great training for your staff, who learn not only about protecting your business, but also about protecting themselves. And with a lot of staff working from home, where managing security is even more difficult, this is more important than ever.

Making the most of your budget

When you’re determining how to get the best value for your training budget, think about the outcomes. Your target outcome is for everyone in your organisation to have access to good quality cyber training that makes a measurable difference to the protection offered to your organisation.

In this way, cyber training is different to many of the other training courses you may be investing in – you need to see results from cyber training. You need to see movement from poor cyber habits to good ones. You need to know that the training has resulted in better cyber behaviour in your business.

You simply can’t get this from the odd webinar, or the occasional half-day training. You can’t even get it from the free cyber training offered by your regulator or insurance company. These tend to be just ‘tick-box’ exercises and don’t really have any positive or measurable impact on the way your people approach cyber security.

Instead, look for training that is ongoing, so that it is always top-of-mind in your organisation. Look for training that you can use as part of your induction package as well as roll out to existing employees. And above all, look for training that actively changes the way people behave when faced with common cyber attacks. It really is the only way you can make a difference.

Psybersafe does all this – regular monthly online episodes that each employee can take in their own time. Relevant subject matter that is practical and immediately actionable, both at home and at work. Hints and tips that reinforce behaviours and show people how easy it can be do start to take a better approach. And all with a central dashboard so that you can monitor and measure progress.

It’s training that delivers significant value for your training budget – and actually isn’t expensive in the first place. Why not give it a go with our free trial?

Join our newsletter to keep up to date with our training and insightful information regarding our training and protecting you and your employees from cyber attacks.  

Mark Brown, is a behavioural science expert with significant experience in inspiring organisational and culture change that lasts.  If you’d like to chat about using Psybersafe in your business to help to stay cyber secure, contact Mark today.