As we wait for the new year, the human factor still plays a significant part in cybersecurity. As trends like IoT, Ai, machine learning, and others take center stage in CISOs’ plans and IT vendor pitches, the people interacting with systems and platforms are still crucial in cybersecurity.
What will leaders face as the main Security Awareness challenges for 2023?
Training Automation is no Longer an Option
Despite an overall increase in Cybersecurity budgets in 2022, organizations are prioritizing their tech stack. That happens because CIOs and CISOs are held accountable for each dollar spent and the growing cyber labor shortage.
In that scenario, Security Awareness can no longer afford manual tasks, with cybersecurity teams multitasking, managing different platforms, and with a push for ongoing, more effective training programs instead of one-size-fits-all, once-every-year ones.
Automated cyber awareness training fills the gap from onboarding to training delivery and metrics, supporting InfoSec teams that will optimize their efforts. It’s no longer a “nice to have” feature but a prerequisite.
Simulations and Training Have to Be User Conscious
You probably heard the story about phishing simulations that played with users’ emotions and expectations, upsetting them. In 2021, West Midlands Trains sent its workers an email promising a bonus for them to find out it was a phishing simulation.
There are plenty of cases where insensitive simulations or bad reactions to user failure end up causing an opposite reaction on your team. Punitive culture and the thought that Security Awareness is a cold, mechanical task are the shortest routes to failure.
In 2023, the path to success in Security Awareness programs is culture. And that is built over time and empathy. So, consistent and constant training combined with user-friendly content and platforms goes a long way toward that achievement.
Managed Services: Vendors Have to Be Partners
To create a strong Security Awareness culture, moving from transaction-driven vendors to services-driven ones makes the difference.
First, getting support from a vendor’s managed services relieves time and headcount when building a robust Security Awareness program, leaving the InfoSec program to work on strategy.
Second, the vendor’s experience with other projects makes a difference in building the culture from the ground up, making it less likely to errors and rework. That knowledge will help steer the project, leaving the organization to inject its corporate culture to make the ending result its own.
Final Words
As CISOs and Security Awareness leaders wrestle with priorities, budgets, and headcounts, solutions providers must adapt to provide them a safe ground to keep up with these challenges and help them thrive and achieve their goals. In the end, the organization still needs to protect its people against cyberattacks, and the new year brings new and improved threats.
If you want to know how we can help your organization defend your people against these threats, why don’t you talk to us about a free trial?
