How to Choose the Best Security Awareness Training Topics for Your Organization

Building an effective security awareness training program is significant for protecting against constantly evolving cyber threats. In 2024, human error remains a leading cause of data breaches, making it essential for companies to focus on targeted training that addresses the most significant risks.

The key to success lies in choosing the right security awareness training topics. Since every organization has different vulnerabilities, a generic approach won’t work.

This blog explores how to identify the most relevant training topics, ensuring your team is well-prepared to handle real-world threats.

Why a Tailored Security Awareness Program Is Essential

Every organization deals with different risks based on its industry, systems, and the types of threats it faces. A generic training program often overlooks important security gaps. Whether your employees are often targeted by phishing, struggle with weak password habits, or fall victim to social engineering tricks, the training should focus on these specific weaknesses to be most effective.

Establishing Your Security Awareness Needs

To design an effective training program, you must first assess your team’s current level of cybersecurity awareness. Conducting phishing simulations is an excellent way to identify areas where employees are most vulnerable.

For instance, if a simulation reveals that 30% of your staff fall for phishing attempts, it’s clear that phishing awareness should be a priority. Risk assessments and compliance audits can further pinpoint risky behaviors like weak password practices or improper handling of sensitive information.

Key Questions for Developing Your Training Program

Once you’ve gathered initial data, it’s important to define clear objectives for your security awareness training program. Key questions to consider include:

• Which employee behaviors need improvement?
• What are the specific goals (e.g., reducing phishing click rates)?
• How will you measure success (e.g., performance in phishing simulations)?
• What KPIs will track the progress and effectiveness of the program?

These questions ensure your training is focused, measurable, and results-driven.

Core Security Awareness Training Topics

While your organization’s needs will dictate specific training topics, there are a few fundamental areas that should be part of every program.

Phishing and Spear Phishing

Phishing remains the most common attack vector, responsible for 41% of all incidents, according to IBM's 2023 Cost of a Data Breach report. This includes spear phishing, a more targeted form of phishing aimed at specific individuals or organizations, often using personalized information to increase its success rate. The growing prevalence of both phishing and spear phishing highlights the need for robust employee training to recognize suspicious emails, links, and attachments.

By implementing phishing simulations, organizations can provide real-world testing, reinforcing employees' ability to spot and report both general phishing attempts and more sophisticated spear phishing attacks.

Explore how phishing simulations can enhance security here.

Password Management

Weak passwords are an easy entry point for cybercriminals. Training on strong password creation and implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) are significant to reducing the risk of breaches caused by stolen credentials.

Read more about password protection strategies here.

Social Engineering

Attackers often manipulate employees into revealing sensitive information. Training on social engineering tactics like vishing, smishing, and baiting is important to prevent such incidents.

Learn more about social engineering attacks here.

Ransomware

Ransomware attacks are increasingly common and can severely disrupt businesses. Employees need to understand how ransomware is typically delivered, often through malicious attachments, and how to avoid these attacks by recognizing potential threats.

Explore ransomware defense strategies here.

Secure Remote Work

With more employees working remotely, organizations face several security challenges, including unsecured Wi-Fi networks, increased phishing attacks, and weak endpoint security. Remote workers are more vulnerable to using public or home networks without adequate protection, making it easier for attackers to gain access to company data.

Phishing attacks also rise as employees rely more on digital communication, and securing endpoints such as personal devices becomes harder without direct IT oversight.

Training on secure Wi-Fi usage, VPNs, and firewalls is essential for mitigating these risks and protecting your organization from vulnerabilities linked to remote work.

Get tips on securing remote workforces here.

Keepnet's Security Awareness Training: Tailored for Your Organization

When building a security awareness training program, customization is key, and Keepnet offers a solution tailored to your organization's specific risks. With its behavior-based training, Keepnet focuses on real-world simulations like phishing, smishing, and vishing, allowing employees to learn from their mistakes in real time. This hands-on approach ensures users are better equipped to recognize and respond to the threats they’re most likely to encounter.

Keepnet also provides access to over 2,000 up-to-date training modules, ensuring your team stays prepared for evolving risks. Additionally, its automated, personalized training adapts to employee behavior, offering targeted lessons to those who need extra support.

By integrating Keepnet's Security Awareness Training, you create a dynamic, tailored program that continuously adapts to new threats.