Greater IT security through targeted employee training

Mobile data, free internet access and remote work make us flexible – and a target for attacks. Cyber criminality is on the rise. Gone are the days where only a handful of hackers tried to obtain our data and – sadly – our money.

To protect themselves, companies must establish effective IT security management. Simply implementing technical measures is no longer enough. The human factor – each company employee – is the most crucial component for successful IT security. Awareness training can be leveraged to sensitise employees to the dangers of cyber-attacks: Knowing about potential dangers helps to stave off criminal hackers.

A hacker need not have programming skills. Social hacking, for example, involves the perpetrator calling selected persons, asking them for their password for ostensible reasons. If the victim actually reveals their password, psychological and linguistic tricks are employed. The technical skills one would typically connect with the term “hacking” are not used.

This makes it even more important to sensitise staff to such threats – they are dealing with a vast array of them. Few people know offhand what malware, ransomware, identity fraud, phishing or social engineering is all about.

But wait a minute! Not only big enterprises and publicly listed corporations are potential victims, Roman Muth, Security Officer for Cloud Solution and Architecture at imc AG shares: “Recently, SMEs have often been targeted by cyber criminality, since large corporations tend to be better protected these days. However, the tactics are similar. The masterminds first approach employees to identify vulnerabilities and obtain information they can use to damage the company, and maybe even blackmail it and extort money.”

To create a lasting impact, employee training needs to start with sensitising employees and creating awareness.

No matter how abstract the subject, training needs to do two things to be fully absorbed and understood by the participants: It must capture their attention and show how it is relevant for their day-to-day work. Theoretical constructs that seem foreign to employees and have little to do with their reality at work are forgotten before they even click the final tab.

That is why imc developed an awareness game: to help learners grasp the issue while motivating them to dive deeper into IT security.

Awareness training: The key to success in preventing cyber attacks

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