Cybersecurity awareness is crucial for businesses who want to protect their digital assets- technology is advancing and so is the risk of sensitive information being hacked. Adequately training and preparing employees on evolving dangers of cybercrime can ensure that they take the right precautions if an event were to occur.

The following 5 reasons outline why your business should have security awareness training, and the importance of your employees being cyber-aware.

The Culture of Cybersecurity

Unfortunately, many employees are uneducated on the implications of cybersecurity and data privacy. There’s more to concealing sensitive information than a creative password. As mentioned before, as technology advances, so do hacking methods used to access your information, so having a comprehensive security awareness program can set clear cybersecurity expectations for employees.

Training can educate employees on how to recognize attacks, help prevent cyber-related incidents and respond to potential threats. These precautions can further ensure the confidentiality of sensitive business data is secure.

Better Security Procedures

Having a cybersecurity program will implement security controls and policies customized for your business. Through training, employees will be informed on the company’s IT security procedures, policies and best practices. You want to make sure your employees are not only aware of these procedures but know how to follow and understand how to use them if need be.

Client and Shareholder Safety

Data breaches can affect any clients or shareholders tied to your business, and can diminish their loyalty to you, or possibly pursue legal repercussions. Investing in comprehensive security awareness training for employees will put customers at ease knowing their partners are educated on security risks, and are knowledgeable about how to manage their data. Being trained in cybersecurity can add value to your business by reassuring any clients that they are working with a responsible and educated partner to protect their data.

Investing in Safety

The benefits of investing in security awareness training outweigh the cost of having a data breach, as the repercussions can be expensive and detrimental for your business. These are some of the potential costs a cyber-attack can bring upon you:

• Loss of revenue
• Loss of clients
• Operational disruptions
• Lawsuits
• Theft of personal identity
• Theft of property/cyber theft
• Compromised data, sensitive information and equipment

The cost to repair the damages of a cyber-attack can weigh down the operation of your business. Investing in cybersecurity awareness training is a better use of your money overall, and can protect you from the added expenses of a cyber-attack.

Reduce Stress

Prioritizing security awareness training for your business can reduce the possibility of added stress to employees who handle sensitive information. The uncertainty of what happens during a cyber-attack or data breach can affect the production of your business, so keeping employees educated on threat intelligence and attack methods can help reduce uncertainty, promote efficient work and safe technology usage.

Business operations rely heavily on technology, and unfortunately, cyber-crime isn’t going anywhere. You never when or in what form your data could be hacked, so ensuring that you have the best possible resources to protect your information from threats is pertinent.  Investing in security awareness training for your business and employees will overall improve the efficiency of your business and provide your employees with the confidence to handle any issues that may arise.