Why train employees
Technical protection, such as antivirus software, filters and network segmentation, blocks mass threats. But the main attack vector stays the same: people. A phishing email to an accountant, an “urgent” call to someone in the finance department, an infected USB stick: all of these get past the technology by exploiting trust. According to statistics on cyberattacks on Russian businesses, social engineering consistently leads among initial attack vectors. Staff training lowers the chance that an attack starts at all. It is the first, mandatory level of cyber defence.
What to teach: the essentials
- Phishing and social engineering. How to spot a fake email, link or call. What to do when in doubt: do not click; report it.
- Passwords and access. A password manager, two-factor authentication, a ban on sharing login credentials.
- Handling data. What must not be sent through messaging apps or to personal email, and how to handle personal data (see BCM and data protection).
- What to do in an incident. The main rule: if you notice something odd, report it at once. A hidden incident costs more than a loud one.
Security awareness platforms: how it works in practice
For regular staff training, the market offers specialised platforms: Kaspersky ASAP, StopPhish, Phishman, Secure-T, Start X and others. They all work in a similar way: short lessons, automated phishing simulations (employees receive “training” phishing emails) and reports for managers showing who clicked, who reported it and how the numbers change over time. This is a working tool: regular simulations cut the share of employees who click several-fold. If you have more than 30–50 employees, a platform is almost certainly worth it.
Why this is not enough
Employee training answers the question “how do we lower the chance of an attack”. But cyber risk has a second half: “what happens when an attack does succeed”. And it does happen: one click by one employee, a new zero-day or an attack through a contractor is enough. At that point, staff awareness no longer helps, and the IT department alone will not save the business.
In a real case of a ransomware attack on a large insurer, the company was down for 7 days. The questions it had to settle in the first hours had nothing to do with staff cyber literacy. Who has the authority to shut down systems? Do we pay the ransom? What do we tell clients and the regulator? How long will it take to restore from backups, and do we have any? These are questions for the management team, and the answers must be ready before an attack, not worked out during one.
The second level: management team readiness
A complete approach to cyber training in a company looks like this:
- Staff: cyber literacy through an awareness platform. This lowers the chance of an attacker getting in.
- Management team: crisis readiness testing. Here we rehearse the incident itself: roles, authority, the cyberattack response plan, communications, recovery and the cost of one day of downtime.
Frequently asked questions
Where should employee cybersecurity training start?
With basic cyber hygiene rules and regular phishing simulations through a security awareness platform. This covers the most common staff mistakes.
Is a security awareness platform enough to protect the business?
No. A platform lowers the chance of a successful attack through staff, but it does not prepare the company for the attack itself. The management team must know who makes decisions, what to tell clients and how to recover.
How can you check whether a company is ready for a cyberattack?
Run a readiness test: a tabletop exercise or a ransomware stress simulation with the management team.
Is your team ready for the first hour of a crisis?
You test a plan by running a scenario. Reading it is not enough. The assessment shows the gaps, and the corporate format works through them with your team on your own processes.
