Our employees and wider user base often develop behaviors that put the company at risk. Clicking on a malicious link or falling victim to a socially engineered scam can leave a company at risk of financial losses and damaged reputation. Security awareness training is a human-centered approach to security that changes risky behavior to create a culture where security matters.
Human-centered cyber threats exploit human vulnerabilities, such as specific behaviors, to initiate and carry out cyberattacks. Human vulnerabilities result in both accidental and malicious security breaches. The outcomes of a human-centered cyberattack include credential theft, ransomware infection, Business Email Compromise (BEC), and data breaches. The Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report found that 60% of cyberattacks involved a human at some point in the attack chain.
The targeting of employees and other personnel is one of the reasons why cyberattacks are successful. Couple this with the assistance of generative AI in creating highly personalized spear phishing emails, and you have a perfect storm.
Popular productivity platforms such as Microsoft 365 must deal with over 600 million cyberattacks daily. Email security solutions are essential to deploy. However, with the sophistication levels of human-centered cyberattacks taking off, thanks to AI, security must include employee security awareness training.
Cyberattack chains may involve some form of manipulation of human behavior, in other words, social engineering. Typical techniques that utilize social engineering include phishing, vulnerability exploitation, and malware infections. A 2025 World Economic Forum report found that 42% of organizations suffered from a successful social engineering attack. AI-assisted social engineering is a next level complex process, involving spear phishing and other social engineered ruses that utilize intelligence gathered using Generate AI, which is then leveraged to develop highly personalized attack tactics.
A 2025 study from TitanHQ and Osterman Research found that 64% of businesses expect phishing threats to rise. One of the reasons phishing is successful is that attackers understand how to manipulate human recipients. Deep seated behaviors, such as trust and a sense of urgency, are exploited to the attacker's benefit.
Cybercriminals also exploit mistakes. Administrators and other staff may accidentally misconfigure a setting, leaving apps and devices vulnerable to security risks. Standard errors are said to be involved in 80% of ransomware infections.
Poor security behavior in the workplace can increase the risk to the business. Practices such as sharing passwords, misdelivery of emails, and general poor attention to security leave a company vulnerable.
Security awareness training uses a combination of techniques to educate employees across an organization on cybersecurity issues. The training covers a wide range of security aspects, including phishing and social engineering, as well as accidental and risky security behaviors. The goal of the training is to empower employees with security knowledge, placing them in “what happens if…” scenarios, then teaching them how to handle those situations.
Security awareness training is a process that works best when carried out at regular intervals. Various types of content are used for education purposes, including interactive videos, online quizzes, escape room like engagement, and other content.
Training examples cover areas such as data protection, email security, malware, mobile device security, safe remote working, social engineering tricks, safe internet use, and secure passwords and MFA. AI and its use in phishing are now commonly taught in security awareness training programs.
Security awareness is based on human psychology and aims to change risky behaviors. The training goal is to create a culture of security where employees are aware of dangerous actions that lead to increased security risk and have the knowledge to prevent those actions before an incident occurs.
Some security awareness training packages also offer simulated phishing platforms that are used to send out fake phishing emails to staff. These fake emails are used to teach employees about phishing and what to look out for when a suspicious email lands in their inbox.
Awareness takes time to build. Security awareness training is conducted regularly to enable employees to build on previous sessions and gain a deeper understanding of how cybercriminals operate. The awareness training eventually becomes an integral part of everyday working life and an intrinsic part of the company's culture.
Regulations and standards such as GDPR require that employees be given regular security awareness training. The training ensures that employees understand their role in maintaining data protection.
Awareness leads to knowledge and understanding. By knowing what to do when a cyberattack happens, an employee can use this knowledge to help prevent an incident from occurring. Having the power to make positive change builds confidence in employees, who no longer feel helpless when it comes to social engineering and phishing.
Employees know how to spot the threat signals and how to report a potential cyberattack.
Reduced cyber risk.
Employees can identify phishing attacks.
Less likely to download malicious attachments.
Sensitive data is protected.
Adherence to regulatory compliance on data protection.
The business builds a general culture of security that protects the broader business and its customers.
Customers get reassurance that your organization takes all necessary steps to protect their data.
Employees gain confidence in their cybersecurity skills and do not worry about losing their jobs to a cybersecurity incident.
Phishing training imbues trainees with an understanding of how phishing works and what happens if they engage with a phishing message or spoof website. The training teaches employees about all forms of phishing, including spear phishing, Vishing (phone call phishing), Smishing (SMS text phishing), and evasive techniques like QR code phishing (Quishing). The training includes teaching staff about the entire phishing chain, from initial email to follow on phishing emails and spoof websites where login credentials are harvested.
Security awareness training should incorporate phishing simulations. These are fake phishing emails sent to employees to train them in identifying phishing attacks. The phishing simulation platform should offer a library of configurable templates that allow a company to tailor fake phishing messages to common threats. Phishing simulations should be adaptable to the various roles within an organization, enabling them to capture specific threats that target those roles.
Poor password hygiene includes creating insecure passwords, reusing passwords, and sharing passwords. Almost two thirds (62%) of employees share passwords, and 64% of Fortune 500 employees use the same password for multiple accounts. These insecure password practices increase the risk of cyberattacks. Security awareness training educates employees on the dangers of insecure password hygiene and how to ensure that login credentials are as secure as possible. Employees may also be taught about other authentication techniques, such as multi-factor authentication and password-less authentication, and how these techniques can enhance login security. Employees will also be taught about any insecurities with these methods, such as MFA fatigue, that are exploited by cybercriminals.
Security awareness training teaches employees about the various ways that they can be exploited by attackers, both online and in real life. By understanding how criminals target them, staff become more vigilant and able to recognize suspicious behavior.
Employees must understand how to use the internet safely. Remote, travelling, and home workers are particularly at risk from insecure internet use, such as sharing data across insecure public Wi-Fi and home routers. In the case of insecure public Wi-Fi, an employee's data is at risk of exposure or modification from a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack. Security awareness training teaches employees about risks such as spoof websites and insecure data sharing, and why software, such as VPNs, can help to reduce risk.
Mobile devices are often used for work-related tasks. However, they must be used within the bounds of a mobile device safety policy. Security awareness training educates employees about the dangers of insecure apps, the importance of patching mobile operating systems, and what to do if a device is lost or stolen.
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