Building an Effective Cybersecurity Awareness Program: A Step-by-Step Guide for 2025

Cyber threats are becoming more advanced each day. According to Cisco Talos Intelligence, around 300 billion emails are sent globally every day, with half of these—about 150 billion—classified as spam. Many of these spam emails contain phishing attempts, making phishing a significant risk to businesses.

Additionally, the 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report by Ventures shows that human error contributed to 68% of data breaches this year, underlining how important it is to address the human factor in cybersecurity efforts.

These statistics underscore the critical need for cybersecurity awareness training. A well-designed program helps employees recognize and respond to threats effectively.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to build a tailored security awareness program with phishing simulations, personalized learning, and continuous updates to meet your organization's specific needs.

Why Every Business Needs Cybersecurity Awareness Training

Cyberattacks don’t just target large enterprises. In fact, 43% of all cyberattacks are aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, according to Accenture’s Cybercrime study. Employees at every level—from the CEO to the intern—are potential targets for phishing and social engineering attacks, making them a critical part of your security strategy.

Training your employees to identify phishing attempts, report suspicious activity, and follow security best practices can significantly reduce the chances of a data breach. Without proper training, even the most advanced security systems can be bypassed through human error.

Learn more about cybersecurity statistics, risks, and trends.

4 Steps to Building an Effective Cybersecurity Awareness Program

To ensure your cybersecurity awareness training is engaging and impactful, follow these four key steps.

1. Develop High-Quality, Relevant Content

Effective training starts with high-quality, relevant content that addresses the specific threats your employees face in their roles. IBM’s 2023 Threat Intelligence Index reports that phishing accounts for 41% of all cyberattacks, so focusing on real-world phishing threats is significant.

It’s essential to customize the training content to fit the needs of different departments. For example, your finance team may require training on spotting fake invoices, while your executives need to be aware of whaling attacks that target high-level individuals.

Keepnet’s security awareness training offers personalized, customizable training modules to ensure each employee is learning about the threats that matter most to them.

Learn how customized training can improve your team’s readiness.

2. Implement Real-World Phishing Simulations

Phishing simulations are an essential part of any cybersecurity training program. Instead of simply telling employees about phishing risks, let them experience what a phishing attack looks like in a safe, controlled environment.

Phishing simulations are highly effective in improving employees' ability to spot fake emails. Keepnet reports that organizations using phishing simulations experience up to a 92% success rate in employees identifying phishing attempts. They allow you to see how employees respond to phishing emails and other threats.

Keepnet’s Phishing Simulator helps you run custom phishing campaigns that reflect real-world attacks, allowing you to gather data on your team’s responses and identify where more training is needed.

By using real-time feedback from these simulations, you can continually fine-tune your training and focus on areas where your team may be vulnerable.

3. Keep Training Ongoing and Updated

The threat landscape is always changing, which is why one-off training sessions are not enough. Regularly updating your training content to address new risks like ransomware or quishing (QR code phishing) is essential for keeping your employees informed and prepared.

Accenture’s 2023 Cyber Threatscape Report highlights how emerging threats like social engineering and voice phishing (vishing) are becoming more prevalent. Keepnet’s Awareness Educator ensures your employees are continuously learning with updated content that addresses the latest trends in cybersecurity.

This continuous learning model ensures that your employees are never caught off guard by new threats, making them a more effective part of your security strategy.

Discover how ongoing awareness training can help your business stay ahead of evolving threats.

4. Tailor the Training to Your Business

Not all companies face the same risks, which is why your cybersecurity awareness training needs to be tailored to your business’s unique challenges. Depending on your industry, you may need to focus more on compliance issues or specific types of threats.

Tailoring the training content ensures that each employee receives relevant and engaging material that applies directly to their day-to-day responsibilities. For example, healthcare organizations may need to focus heavily on data protection and compliance, while retail companies may prioritize point-of-sale security.

Keepnet’s Awareness Educator allows you to design custom training paths that reflect your company’s specific needs, helping to build a program that resonates with your workforce.

Learn more about how tailored awareness training can better protect your business.

Build Your Cybersecurity Awareness Training with Keepnet

Building a strong cybersecurity awareness program is significant to protecting your business, but your defense starts with your employees. With Keepnet you can create a training program that prepares your team to identify and stop real-world threats like phishing, ransomware, and social engineering.

Here’s how each Keepnet product can help:

• Phishing Simulator: Test your employees with realistic phishing attacks and identify weak spots.
• Smishing Simulator: Simulate SMS-based phishing to train staff on spotting mobile threats.
• Security Awareness Educator: Provide engaging, custom training tailored to your industry and evolving threats.
• Vishing Simulator: Prepare your team for voice-based phishing (vishing) attacks with real-world scenarios.
• Quishing Simulator: Train employees to detect QR code phishing (quishing) and related threats.
• Callback Phishing Simulator: Equip your team to handle sophisticated phishing attacks that use callback tactics.
• Incident Responder: Automate your email incident response to handle threats faster and more effectively.
• Threat Intelligence: Stay ahead of emerging threats with actionable intelligence for your organization.
• Threat Sharing: Collaborate and share threat data within trusted networks to enhance overall defense.
• Email Threat Simulator: Test and train employees on recognizing advanced email threats beyond phishing.

Ready to protect your business? Start your free demo today and see how Keepnet can help boost awareness and resilience across your team.