Five Myths About Security Awareness Training That Endanger Your Business
In today’s digital landscape, employee security awareness training is often touted as a critical defense against cyber threats. Yet, despite its importance, many organizations do not have effective training in place. In fact, 67 percent of organizations report concerns that their employees lack fundamental security awareness. So what's getting in the way of efforts to empower employees (and protect the organization) with this critical knowledge?
A number of misconceptions continue to derail training programs, leading to underinvestment, poorly designed programs, and missed opportunities. Let’s break down the most common myths and facts about security awareness training, so you can make informed decisions and build an effective training program that lays the foundation for a truly resilient, cyber aware culture within your organization.
Do you allow personal devices to access your business network?
If you do, that’s another key item to address in your security awareness training.
Common Myths About Security Awareness Training
Myth 1: Security Awareness Training Is Boring
It’s not just security awareness training, though, is it? There’s a pervasive impression (not totally undeserved) that all training is boring. You’ve heard it. Heck, you’ve probably done it yourself; when the email goes out announcing the next employee training of any kind, a collective groan ripples through the office.
It’s not exactly a myth: training of all kinds CAN be boring. It frequently is. Often it means enduring dry lectures and tedious PowerPoint slides for hours, all while you have pressing projects and deadlines waiting at your desk.
The Cure: Invest in a program that puts a heavy emphasis on entertainment. Modern programs use engaging formats—interactive videos, gamified modules, and real-world scenarios. These tactics keep employees interested and engaged, but they also communicate to employees that you value their time and the content enough to invest in a quality program. Give your team something to look forward to, rather than something to dread, and they will participate willingly and also retain this crucial information.
Myth 2: It’s Too Time-Consuming
It's not just employees who have a (mis)perception that training can be too time-consuming. Management often falls victim to this perception, too, causing leadership to shortchange their organization on training that is well worth the time spent. That’s a problem for two reasons:
One, the risk is too great. By not preparing your employees with the tools and knowledge they require to make good decisions that protect your company, you are inviting disaster. A reminder: the IBM 2024 Cost of a Breach Report puts the average cost of breach at $4.88 million.
Two, the most effective training is actually NOT time-consuming. Impactful training is short, direct, and easily digestible. That makes the content easy to internalize and apply afterward, which ... well, isn’t that the point?
The cure: If you’re getting objections that security training will take employees away from their core duties, it’s important to emphasize to all team members the risks of skimping on training and the benefits of the kind of microlearning training that you will be implementing.
Myth 3: Training Is Ineffective
If you ignore myths 1 and 2, and you implement training that is, in fact, boring and overly time-consuming, then you will make myth number 3 true as well. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
The cure: Training efficacy is within your control. You can change behaviors and significantly reduce risk with well-designed, entertaining microlearning programs that are structured around clear goals and provide regular reinforcement. Occasional incidents are inevitable, but their overall frequency and severity drop significantly when employees are empowered to act as the first line of defense.
Myth 4: It’s Just a Compliance Checkbox
Security training might check a required box for compliance, but that check box exists for a reason. According to the 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, human element was a component of 68% of breaches. That means if you skip security training, you do so at your peril.
The cure: If compliance requirements are getting under your skin, and in your way, it might be time for a perspective change. There certainly are cybersecurity awareness training programs that only check the compliance box. They break all of the rules we’ve covered here. They’re once or twice a year, spanning hours and hours of time, packed with boring slide decks and outdated material. Everyone resents it, but the compliance box gets to be checked. That is a waste of your time and money, and it erodes your culture rather than empowers it. Put a GOOD training program in place, one that will provide ongoing training that changes behavior and builds a sustainable culture of cyber safety, and your employees will embrace it and become reliable guardians for your organization.
Myth 5: The Most Effective Phishing Simulations Are Tricky
Phishing simulations are a common part of security training, but when poorly executed, they can backfire. The goal is to train your employees to be vigilant so they can feel empowered, not to make them feel hunted. Some examples of phishing simulations that can go badly:
Emails that appear to be from HR about promotions or layoffs
Emails that include emotional triggers, such as tragic news stories
68 percent
The percentage of cyber breaches in 2024, according to Verizon, that began with human error.
The cure: The goal of phishing simulations is education, not entrapment. You want to give employees practice recognizing the often-exploited elements of phishing emails within a safe environment. When they make mistakes, that’s an opportunity to back up the lesson with specific kinds of reinforcement and practice, not with punishment. It’s important to be transparent that phishing simulations will be taking place and to perform follow-up training discreetly.
Also remember that phishing, like all cyber attacks, is constantly evolving. For that reason, training should be an ongoing, regular exercise. This creates a habit of vigilance as well as updates employees on any new or recent phishing attempts that they might need to look out for.
Unfortunately, with all of these myths at work undermining security awareness training, too many companies are leaving their doors wide open to cyber criminals. It’s important to understand the foundations of these myths so you can break the cycle and invest in training that protects your company.
Understanding Why Myths Persist
Despite the clear benefits, myths about security awareness training persist due to several factors:
Outdated Experiences: Many employees will have negative past experiences with training of all kinds, causing them to disengage before you even get started. You must invest in a well-designed program and communicate clearly to your employees about why you chose the specific program and what you hope to achieve.
Poorly Designed Programs: This gets back to the compliance myth. If the focus is solely on checking a compliance box, it’s likely you will end up with an inexpensive, but also entirely ineffective, training experience.
Lack of Metrics: Demonstrating ROI is a challenge with security awareness training because it involves proving a negative; you have to be able to measure how many times you weren’t breached because an employee didn’t click on a link or share information. That said, common sense should be able to carry the day. If you empower your team with knowledge, they will have the tools to better protect your company.
How to Make Security Awareness Training Effective
Ensure That Your Employees Understand How Important They Are
Communicate clearly with your team about the cost of a breach and their critical role in helping avoid one. They should understand the extreme importance of every minute they spend on security awareness training.
Make It Relevant and Engaging
Provide real world examples so that your team can see the impact of the information they’re learning. Make exercises fun whenever possible. Use gamification to allow employees to compete with one another, adding another level of engagement.
Focus on Behavior Change, Not Just Knowledge
The goal is not just to inform, but to change habits. Providing real-world examples of situations where employees didn’t change their habits, coupled with the consequences of not doing so, will give your employees the motivation they need to make lasting changes.
Segment and Personalize Training
Certain job roles—C-suite, accounting, HR, etc. — have access to more of your company’s sensitive data. As a result, these employees might receive more frequent attacks, as well as attacks that are specialized to their job roles. Your training should be specialized to those roles, too.
Create a Supportive Environment with Clear Processes
Your employees should see your IT or security team as a trusted resource, whether they have a suspicious email or questionable phone calls. Cyber criminals are more frequently using social engineering campaigns that build credibility by reaching out to victims on multiple different formats. That means the danger is not just in your employees’ email accounts. For this reason, you must establish a clear process for how to handle questions and suspicions so that your team members won’t feel nervous about reaching out. Your IT/security team should also be well prepared about how to handle these requests and questions in a way that fosters an ongoing feeling of trust.
Get Feedback and Use It
Employees who feel heard and see the results of their feedback are much more likely to remain engaged. Also, your employees are the experts on their day-to-day jobs, and they might have great ideas about how to enhance training. Create a structured way to continuously elicit feedback from your team on the security awareness training, and make sure that all feedback is acknowledged and receives follow up with next steps.
Bust the Myths and Bet on Your Team
You don’t need tons of statistics to know that human error opens the door to cyber criminals every day. With security awareness training, you only have two options: skip training your employees and hope for the best, or embrace the idea that knowledge is power and provide your team with all the knowledge you can.
Security awareness training is not a fix-all, but it is one of several powerful tools you can put in place to minimize risk and protect your company’s future. If you implement a high-quality training program that treats training like a worthy investment rather than a checkbox, you can transform employees from potential vulnerabilities into active defenders of the organization. In a world where cyber threats are ever-present, your business deserves every protection you can give it. If you would like to learn more about how JSCM Group can help with security awareness training, schedule a meeting to talk to our experts!