If you want to bolster your cybersecurity in 2024, providing effective security awareness training is just as important as deploying the right data protection tools.

Before you decide what security awareness training you’re going to do this year, consider getting feedback from your employees as well as aligning your training with the key projects you expect to be doing over the next 12 months.

Evaluate last year’s training

Find out what your employees liked about the security awareness training they have received in the past – both the positive and the negative. Was it engaging? What content did your employees like or dislike? Did like they like in-person workshops? What about online content such as videos? Understanding what works best will help make any future security awareness training more effective and enjoyable, as well as ensuring it’s effective.

How will you communicate?

Leveraging your employees to bolster your cyber security posture isn’t just about the security awareness training you provide, but also how you engage them on a day-to-day basis about any issues, concerns, or incidents. How effective is email for making sure everyone is on the same page? Are you leveraging channels on your collaboration platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams? How do you ensure that remote workers are receiving security-related bulletins?

What issues does your security awareness training need to address?

Broadly speaking, it’s easy to identify which challenges and threats your security awareness training must consider, but have you given thought to the specific issues that the executive team and employees are most concerned about? Were there specific threats in the past year such as phishing or ransomware that weren’t handled adequately? How well is your organization securing remote workers?

How should your projects in 2024 shape your training?

Security awareness training should not only apply to routine business operations, but also for major projects, whether it is customer deliverables or your own strategic digital transformation efforts. New endeavors often require access to data as well as the need for new cloud-based applications, all of which have an impact on your security posture. New customers may have security requirements that may require you to implement new processes and policies that your employees must be made aware of.

Getting new employees up to speed

If you’ve already added new staff or plan to scale up your headcount in 2024, you must gear your security awareness training for newcomers. They may come from an organization with less stringent security policies or conversely, they might be able to bring something to the table that enhances both your training and your security policies. No matter what, onboarding new employees should include security awareness training, and it should specifically address how certain roles engage with sensitive data.

Security awareness training works hand in hand with your cybersecurity and data protection tools – your employees are a critical element in securing your organization. If you’re to improve and expand your security awareness training, a managed services provider with a focus on security can help you develop, deliver, and maintain an effective program.