There's a natural human desire to avoid threatening scenarios. The irony, of course, is if you hope to attain any semblance of security, you've got to remain prepared to confront those very same threats.
As a decision-maker for your organization, you know this well. But no matter how many experts or trusted cybersecurity tools your organization has a standing guard, you're only as secure as your weakest link. There's still one group that can inadvertently open the gates to unwanted threat actors—your own people.
Security must be second nature for your first line of defense
For your organization to thrive, you need capable employees. After all, they're your source for great ideas, innovation, and ingenuity. However, they're also human. And humans are fallible. Hackers understand no one is perfect, and that's precisely what they seek to exploit.
This is why your people must become your first line of defense against cyber threats. But to do so, they need to learn how to defend themselves against the treachery of hackers. That's where security awareness training (SAT) comes in.
What is Security Awareness Training (SAT)?
The overall objective of an SAT program is to keep your employees and organization secure. The underlying benefit, however, is demonstrating compliance. While content may differ from program to program, most are generally similar, requiring your employees to watch scripted videos, study generic presentations, and take tests on cyber "hygiene." At their core, SAT programs are designed to help you:
- Educate your employees on recognizing cybersecurity risks such as phishing and ransomware
- Minimize your organization's exposure to cyber threats
- Maintain regulatory compliance with cyber insurance stipulations
These are all worthwhile goals in helping your organization thrive amidst ever-evolving cyber threats. However, attaining these outcomes can feel like a pipe dream. That's because of one unfortunate truth about most SAT programs: they don't work.
Age-Old Challenges of Old-School SATs
Traditional SAT programs have long been scrutinized for their inability to drive meaningful behavioral changes. In fact, 69% of employees admit to "intentionally bypassing" their enterprise's cybersecurity guidance.
If you oversee cybersecurity for an organization, then you're likely familiar with the pain that comes with implementing one, managing it, and encouraging its usage. Given their complexities, traditional SAT solutions practically force non-technical employees to become full-on technologists.
| Challenges for Administrators | Challenges for Employees | Challenges for Your Organization |
| Complex, ongoing management is frustrating. Plus, through it all they just find poor results. | They're bored. Unengaging content is detrimental, as it doesn't lead to knowledge retention. Boring, unengaging content doesn't help with knowledge retention. | Most SATs aren't effective because they're created by generalists, not real cybersecurity experts And many are designed with little reporting capabilities, leading to limited visibility into success rates |
Because most SAT programs are complex to manage, they're usually dismissed as a means to an end. Just check a box for compliance and move on. But when done right, SAT can be a potent tool to help your employees make more intelligent, more instinctive, security-conscious decisions.
Ask the Right Questions Before Choosing Your SAT Solution
When it comes to choosing the right solution for your organization, there are some questions you should first ask yourself. By assessing the following, you'll be better equipped to select the option that best fits your specific needs.
Learning-Based Questions
- Are the topics covered in this SAT relevant to my organization's security and compliance concerns?
- Are episodes updated regularly to reflect current threats and scenarios?
- Does this SAT engage users in a unique, meaningful manner?
- Is this SAT built and supported by cybersecurity practitioners?
- Is the teaching methodology proven to increase knowledge retention?
Management-Based Questions
- Can someone outside of my organization manage the SAT for me?
- Can it be deployed quickly?
- Does it automatically enroll new users and automate management?
- Is it smart enough to skip non-human identities so I don't assign training to, say, our copy machine?
- Is it simple and intuitive enough for anyone across my organization to use?
Your ideal SAT will allow you to answer a resounding "Yes" to all of the above.
Essential Features of an Effective SAT
A SAT solution that's easy to deploy, manage, and use can have a substantial positive impact. That's because a solution that delivers "ease" has considered all of your organization's cybersecurity needs in advance. In other words, an effective SAT does all the heavy lifting on your behalf, as it features:
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Relevant topics …based on real threats you might encounter. |
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What to look for: To avoid canned, outdated training, choose a SAT solution that's backed by experts. Cybersecurity practitioners should be the ones regularly creating and updating episodes based on the latest trends they see hackers leveraging in the wild. Additionally, every episode should cover a unique cybersecurity topic that reflects the most recent real-world tradecraft. |
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Full management by real experts …so you don't have to waste time creating, managing, and assigning training. |
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What to look for: Ideally, you want a SAT solution that can manage all necessary tasks for you. Seek a SAT solution that's backed by real cybersecurity experts who can create, curate, and deploy your learning programs and phishing scenarios on your behalf. |
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Memorable episodes …with fun, story-driven lessons that are relatable and easy to comprehend. |
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What to look for: Strive for a SAT solution that features character-based narratives. This indicates the SAT is carefully designed to engage learners of all attention spans. Remember, if the episodes are intentionally entertaining and whimsical, you're more likely to find your employees conversing about inside jokes, recurring characters, and, of course, what they've learned. As a result, these ongoing discussions only serve to fortify your culture of security. |
| Continual enhancements …so episodes are updated regularly in response to real-world threats. |
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What to look for: Seek out a SAT solution that provides monthly episodes, as this will keep your learners up to date. Regular encounters with simulated cybersecurity scenarios can help enhance their abilities to spot and defend against risks, such as phishing attempts. These simulations should also be dispersed at unpredictable time intervals (i.e. morning, night, weekends, early in the month, later in the month, etc.), keeping learners on their toes and allowing them to put their security knowledge into practice. |
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Minimal time commitment …so you don't have to invest countless hours managing it all. |
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What to look for: For your learners, choose a SAT solution that doesn't feel like an arduous chore. Look for solutions that specialize in engaging episodes that are designed to be completed in shorter periods of time. For your own administrative needs, select a SAT that can sync regularly with your most popular platforms, such as Microsoft 365, Google, Okta, or Slack. It should also sync your employee directories with ease, so whenever you activate or deactivate users, it'll automatically update the information. Finally, make sure it's intelligent enough to decipher between human and non-human identities, so you're only charged for accounts linked to real individuals. |
| Real results …through episodes that instill meaningful security-focused behaviors and habits. |
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What to look for:
An impactful SAT should deliver monthly training that's rooted in science-backed teaching methodologies proven to help your employees internalize and retain lessons better. Your SAT should feature engaging videos, text, and short quizzes that showcase realistic cyber threats you and your employees are likely to encounter in the wild, such as:
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| Measurable data …with easy-to-read reports on usage and success rates. |
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What to look for:
An impactful SAT program should provide robust reporting. Comprehensible summaries should highlight those learners who haven't taken their training or those whom a phishing simulation has compromised. Additionally, detailed reports should give you all the data you need to help prove business, insurance, and regulatory compliance. |
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Easy adoption ….that makes it easy to deploy and easy to scale with your organization. |
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What to look for: Choose a SAT solution that's specially built to accommodate organizations with limited time and resources. A solution that's easy to implement can be deployed across your organization in a matter of minutes. |
| Compliance …with a range of standards and regulations |
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What to look for:
While compliance is the bare minimum of what a SAT should offer your organization, it shouldn't be understated. Whether to meet insurance check boxes or critical industry regulations, every business has its own compliance demands. At the very least, your SAT solution should cover the requirements of:
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The Threat Landscape is Changing. Your SAT Should Change With It.
Cybercriminals think they're smart, maliciously targeting individuals across organizations like yours. That's why you need to ensure your employees are smarter. If they're aware of the ever-changing tactics hackers employ, they can stand as your first line of defense. But first, you need to deploy a training solution you can trust, backed by real cybersecurity experts who understand emerging real-world threats.
Huntress Security Awareness Training is an easy, effective, and enjoyable solution that helps:
- Minimize time-consuming maintenance and management tasks
- Improve knowledge retention through neuroscience-based learning principles
- Update you and your employees on the current threat landscape
- Establish a culture that values cybersecurity
- Inspire meaningful behavioral habits to improve security awareness
- Engage you and your employees in a creative, impactful manner
- Assure regulatory compliance
- Keep cyber criminals out of your organization
Discover how a fully managed SAT can free up your time and resources, all while empowering your employees with smarter habits that better protect your organization from cyber threats.
Say goodbye to ineffective, outdated training. Say hello to Huntress SAT.
Start your free trial of Huntress SAT today.
