Many organizations have undertaken admirable efforts to beef up their cybersecurity, but it may not be enough. According to a recent report, the average amount of time organizations take to detect and contain a data breach is 287 days…one week longer than the previous year.

Unfortunately, the longer a hacker has access to your data, the more damage they tend to do. Picture giving a thief keys to your house, and letting them roam around freely, with 287 days to look for valuables. For an organization, that’s 287 days of money leaks and sensitive data flying out the window.

But while the statistics can be scary, there’s good news---cybersecurity training drastically lowers your risk of attack.

Why Is Cybersecurity Training Important for Your Staff?

Experts estimate that the damage related to global cybercrime will grow by 15% each year for the next five years, reaching $10.5 trillion annually by 2025. Anyone can fall subject to the plotted schemes of cyberbullies and hackers. One click, and that’s it. That’s why cybersecurity awareness is for everyone, including leadership.

Fortunately, implementing a robust security awareness training program, including phishing awareness training, a clean desk policy, and a secure visitor program can help lower your risk of becoming part of that statistic—and lower your risk from the inside out.

You’ll Raise Awareness of Insider Threats

From the irritated ex-employee to the insider with ill intent, anyone with access to sensitive information can pose a security threat to your business. But simple human error accounts for perhaps the biggest risk of all. According to Bloomberg BNS, over one-third of data incidents were the result of employee negligence. One employee may simply ignore security controls and install a banned application, and that’s all it takes to open the doors to a threat.

Most employees lack awareness of the risk that their actions, or that of their colleagues, might pose. Being proactive in educating all employees on the warning signs of insider threats can save you in the long run.

The Cost Savings Might Surprise You

The average cost of a data breach in 2020 was $3.86 million globally. In 2021, it rose to $4.24 million. Data breaches from insiders can cost as much as 20% of annual revenue.

It’s a common myth that hackers go for bigger businesses. But truth be told, hackers actually prefer to target smaller businesses, viewing them as easy, unprepared targets. The Cyber Security Breaches Survey reports that 48% of small businesses have identified a cyberattack over the 12 months, and 31% say they are attacked at least weekly.

It’s hard to quantify things you prevent from happening, but far too many organizations only focus on prevention efforts after an incident occurs. With online security training courses, you’ll hold onto your hard-earned dollars.

Your Customers Will Trust You More

What’s worse for your reputation than your clients finding out that not only was your information at risk, but theirs was, too? Consumer trust, once lost, takes quite some time to rebuild. A cyberattack can be detrimental to your social standing, and let’s be real, in a world of social media comparison, people will talk.

Many businesses tend to underestimate how consumers will react after a breach. However, according to a recent survey, 83% of consumers in the U.S. say they will stop buying products or services from a business for several months after a security breach, and 21% of consumers claim they will never return to a business post-breach.

When you take steps to educate your staff in order to significantly reduce your risk, you’re also investing in customer trust and loyalty.

Your Passwords Will Be More Difficult To Crack

Let’s be honest, when it comes to passwords, most of us are kind of…bad. It’s either the name of our first car or our childhood pet.

We think that if we add a special character in there somewhere, we’re safe. But the fact is, there are people who’ve committed their entire careers to knowing what makes you tick in order to crack the code. And we don’t exactly make it hard; most of us are guilty of revealing potential passwords and security question answers on social media without much thought.

Train your employees on things to avoid, like reusing old passwords, creating weak passwords, and resetting passwords through unknown email links. These practices alone significantly lower your chances of an external attack.

Phishing Schemes Will Be Recognized and Reported

COVID-19 changed everything. Most businesses went from having a few lucky work-from-home Fridays, to an entirely remote workforce, within a week.

Hybrid and remote work opened up a whole new world of human error as the comfort of home led people to drop their guard, and access digital tools from less secure personal devices. Many employees don’t even understand how phishing and whaling scams work in the context of emails and a work environment.

25% of all data breaches involve phishing, and without proper training, 20% of all employees are likely to click on phishing email links. But according to one study, with proper training, vulnerabilities to phishing can be reduced by 84%.

You’ll Lower the Chances of a Catastrophic Data Breach

2022 is still young, but just this past February, hackers accessed a State Bar of California public website that aggregates nationwide court case records, and caused the site to display confidential information on 260,000 non-public attorney discipline case records, along with about 60,000 public State Bar court case records.

Since then, the State Bar of California has been forced to do a significant amount of damage control, including retaining a legal firm. However, the real effects of this data breach are still unfolding, and likely will take years to resolve.

If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, when it comes to cybersecurity, for every minute you spend on training or $1 you spend on solutions, you could be saving months, and hundreds of dollars on damage control.

Your Users Will Feel Safe and Secure

At the end of the day, cybersecurity awareness training is about protecting the data and the dollars, but we can’t forget about what gives a business its heartbeat.

Employees are a valuable and necessary part of making a business grow and flourish. Their identity and personal information are in the hands of business owners and operators and must be protected at all costs.

There are plenty of cyber training courses and programs you can use to ensure that your team is ready, alert, and aware of red flags in order to protect the rest of the team. Everyone must do their part and stay educated on what to look for.

Find the Right Cybersecurity Training Solution for You

Marco partners with KnowBe4 to provide our clients with the very best cybersecurity training solutions on the market. KnowBe4 has a proven history of being able to reduce vulnerabilities more than its competitors. We are always proud to offer cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions for our clients, and with the help of our cybersecurity experts, prevent the unthinkable from ever happening.