Cybersecurity incidents cost a great amount of money, and reputation loss to companies.

Cybersecurity incidents cost a great amount of money, and reputation loss to companies. Malware, data breaches, ransomware, and many more risks are on the table. There are many things to prevent the risk, but employee education is one of the most important. Here are 5 reasons to provide cybersecurity awareness training to your employees:

1) The consequences are so serious, they cannot be ignored:

Preventing cybersecurity incidents is much easier and cheaper than fixing the consequences. Here are some financial loss statistics to get the bigger picture:

·          The yearly cost of cybercrime for each company increased by 12% from $11.7 million in 2017 to $13.0 million in 2018.

·          Total costs of cybercrime are expected to reach a total of $ 6 trillion in 2022.

·          The average cost of a malware attack on a company is $2.6 million.

·          The average cost of a data breach is $3.9 million.

Also, some things are harder to repair; like company reputation.

When customer data is stolen, customer trust can also go. When valuable data is deleted, well you need to start over. That's why you need to focus on preventing it. And cybersecurity awareness training is one of the most important precautions.

2) Employees are the weakest link. A case study shows that 59% of malware cases are originated from employee mistakes. If you look at all kinds of cybersecurity incidents, then statistics say nearly 80% of them happened because of employees. That means employees are the weakest link. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link. This may sound like bad news but actually, it is good news. That means you can eliminate the biggest part of the risk by educating your employees.

3) Cybersecurity awareness is easy to learn, unlike most technical subjects. You don’t need computer labs, practical training, etc. You even don't have to know the technical details. All you need to know is what to do, what not to do, and why. Easy peasy, right? Distinguishing dangerous e-mails and URLs from non-dangerous ones is not that hard. All you need is learn to how. Also using USB devices safely, connecting the company network from home safely, and choosing safe passwords are other important topics that can be learned easily and save the day!

4) Technical precautions are not enough. Most companies have firewalls, security software, and much more. But that’s not enough. Cybercrime techniques are improving faster than cybersecurity solutions. So none of the technical precautions are 100% safe. Especially with brand new malware. The second reason is, that securing company assets is not enough. All of your employees are using personal devices. Tablets, cell phones, USB devices. They may use the same passwords at the computers at home. And they may try to reach company assets from outside the company which is very likely during a pandemic. You cannot secure all devices but you can teach your employee how to use them safely.

5) Cost-effective Cybersecurity training is a cost-effective solution. Most of the cybersecurity e-learning courses are very affordable as Cobidu’s of shelf courses are! Once you purchase, all of your employees can take the courses, no matter how many employees you have. You only pay once, but the results will protect you for a very long time. It is the beauty of education. It is an investment that you can collect the fruit from right away and for a long time after.