Develop a Security Awareness and Training Program That Empowers End Users
Turn end users into your organization’s secret security weapon.
- The fast evolution of the cybersecurity landscape requires security training and awareness programs that are frequently updated and improved.
- Security and awareness training programs often fail to engage end users. Lack of engagement can lead to low levels of knowledge retention.
- Irrelevant or outdated training content does not properly prepare your end users to effectively defend the organization against security threats.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- One-time, annual training is no longer sufficient for creating an effective security awareness and training program.
- By presenting security as a personal and individualized issue, you can make this new personal focus a driver for your organizational security awareness and training program.
Impact and Result
- Create a training program that delivers smaller amounts of information on a more frequent basis to minimize effort, reduce end-user training fatigue, and improve content relevance.
- Evaluate and improve your security awareness and training program continuously to keep its content up-to-date. Leverage end-user feedback to ensure content remains relevant to those who receive it.
Develop a Security Awareness and Training Program That Empowers End Users Research & Tools
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should develop a security awareness and training program that empowers end users, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
1. Develop your training program
Create or mature a security awareness and training program that is tailored to your organization.
2. Design an effective training delivery plan
Explore methods of training delivery and select the most effective solutions.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
9.2/10
Overall Impact
$11,799
Average $ Saved
12
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Kappa Delta Sorority
Guided Implementation
10/10
$3,719
29
iFIT
Guided Implementation
10/10
$10,000
10
Heartland Co-op
Guided Implementation
9/10
$2,479
2
Ipsen Pharma SAS
Guided Implementation
9/10
$30,999
5
Ring Power Corporation
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
N/A
Performance Trust Capital Partners
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Federated Co-operatives Limited
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,000
5
Public Safety Canada
Guided Implementation
9/10
$50,000
32
Gallagher
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,479
5
STERIS Corporation
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,479
5
Fleet Feet Sports
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
5
The City of Spruce Grove
Guided Implementation
8/10
$3,000
10
Health Alliance
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
10
City Of Durham
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
N/A
Selkirk College
Guided Implementation
9/10
$10,000
10
STERIS Corporation
Guided Implementation
10/10
$16,119
90
Gopher Resource
Guided Implementation
10/10
$3,000
2
INTEGRA-CO INC
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
2
STERIS Corporation
Guided Implementation
10/10
$12,292
10
Auckland Transport
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
N/A
Federated Co-operatives Limited
Guided Implementation
9/10
$7,000
5
Yamana Gold
Guided Implementation
10/10
$25,000
5
Ottawa Police
Guided Implementation
10/10
$25,000
9
County of Nevada
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
1
Town Of Marana
Guided Implementation
10/10
$12,733
80
Palm Beach State College
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
5
Capital Regional District
Guided Implementation
9/10
$7,000
7
South West Water
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
CIEE, Org.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$12,733
10
Government of New Brunswick
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
N/A
Workshop: Develop a Security Awareness and Training Program That Empowers End Users
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Outline the Plan for Long-term Program Improvement
The Purpose
- Identify the maturity level of the existing security awareness and training program and set development goals.
- Establish program milestones and outline key initiatives for program development.
- Identify metrics to measure program effectiveness.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Identified the gaps between the current maturity level of the security awareness and training program and future target states.
Activities
Outputs
Create a program development plan.
- Customized development plan for program.
Investigate and select metrics to measure program effectiveness.
- Tool for tracking metrics.
Execute some low-hanging fruit initiatives for collecting metrics: e.g. create a knowledge test, feedback survey, or gamification guide.
- Customized knowledge quiz ready for distribution.
- Customized feedback survey for training.
- Gamification program outline.
Module 2: Identify and Assess Audience Groups and Security Training Topics
The Purpose
- Determine the unique audience groups within your organization and evaluate their risks and vulnerabilities.
- Prioritize training topics and audience groups to effectively streamline program development.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Created a comprehensive list of unique audience groups and the corresponding security training that each group should receive.
- Determined priority ratings for both audience groups and the security topics to be delivered.
Activities
Outputs
Identify the unique audience groups within your organization and the threats they face.
- Risk profile for each identified audience group.
Determine the priority levels of the current security topics.
- Priority scores for all training topics.
Review audience groups and determine which topics need to be delivered to each group.
- List of relevant security topics for each identified audience group.
Module 3: Plan the Training Delivery
The Purpose
- Identify all feasible delivery channels for security training within your organization.
- Build a vendor evaluation tool and shortlist or harvest materials for in-house content creation.
Key Benefits Achieved
- List of all potential delivery mechanisms for security awareness and training.
- Built a vendor evaluation tool and discussed a vendor shortlist.
- Harvested a collection of free online materials for in-house training development.
Activities
Outputs
Discuss potential delivery mechanisms for training, including the purchase and use of a vendor.
- List of available delivery mechanisms for training.
If selecting a vendor, review vendor selection criteria and discuss potential vendor options.
- Vendor assessment tool and shortlist.
If creating content in-house, review and select available resources on the web.
- Customized security training presentations.
Module 4: Create a Training Schedule for Content Deployment
The Purpose
- Create a plan for deploying a pilot program to gather valuable feedback.
- Create an ongoing training schedule.
- Define the end users’ responsibilities towards security within the organization.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Created a plan to deploy a pilot program.
- Created a schedule for training deployment.
- Defined role of end users in helping protect the organization against security threats.
Activities
Outputs
Build training modules.
- Documented modular structure to training content.
Create an ongoing training schedule.
- Training schedule.
Define and document your end users’ responsibilities towards their security.
- Security job description template.
- End-user training policy.
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 2-phase advisory process. You'll receive 4 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation #1 - Develop your training program
- Call #1 - Build a development plan for your training program.
- Call #2 - Learn best practices for the execution of development initiatives.
Guided Implementation #2 - Design an effective training delivery plan
- Call #1 - Identify possible delivery methods.
- Call #2 - Create a training schedule.
Contributors
- Sky Sharma, CIO
- Adrien de Beaupré, Certified Instructor and Penetration Tester, SANS Institute
- Robert Hawk, Information Security Expert, xMatters, Inc.
- Steven Woodward, CEO, Cloud Perspectives
- Riddhi Patel, Information Security Analyst, National Life Group
- Blair Panasiuk, Manager of IT Operations, Dynalife
- Erich Salie, Information Security Officer
- David Shipley, Director of Strategic Initiatives, University of New Brunswick
- Paul Daley, Sr. Analyst for Security Management, Risk and Audit, Toronto District School Board
- Glen Maxfield, IT Security Manager, Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba
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