Why Cybersecurity Training Is Crucial for Every Business

Cybersecurity training is an absolute necessity in contemporary business landscapes. Given our dependence on technology for conducting business operations and safeguarding sensitive data, a profound understanding of the most effective safety measures is imperative to business success.

India recorded almost 89.5 million digital transactions in 2022. The Indian sub-continent accounts for a whopping 46% of the yearly global real-time financial transactions annually. (Source: Livemint)

What’s even more surprising, is that India has surpassed the number of digital transactions of all four leading nations combined.

In a landscape where the world's largest democracy and consumer cluster thrives on digital advancements, businesses naturally gravitate towards the online realm. Consequently, cybersecurity awareness and training have emerged as indispensable assets in today's world, where the digital domain is a vital facet of commerce.

Why your business desperately needs cybersecurity awareness:

The pandemic played a large part in the increased digitisation of our current world.

During COVID-19, the world was locked down and mainly digital businesses were able to serve and aid us during this time of immobility.  

Online businesses were able to continue operations across distance and borders. When your business is online, customers can reach you from the farthest corners of the world. You can expand your business and market across various nations and increase your profit.

However, when generating a large revenue through online business, we must be conscious of thieves and cybercrime. In a study concerning Norway, Statista mentioned that the global indicator of losses due to cybercrime will continually increase between 2023 and 2028. Eventually, this cost is expected to result in a total of 5.7 trillion U.S. dollars to the cybersecurity market.

This indicator is estimated to reach a new peak of 13.8 trillion U.S. dollars by 2028, showing the exponential rise in the cost of cybercrime in the cybersecurity marketplace. (Source: Statista) If this holds true for Norway, just imagine what this would amount to on a global scale!

How has cybercrime developed and changed over time?

•   The FBI reported that cybercrime rates have increased by 300% since the start of COVID-19.
•   The Consumer Sentinel Network shared that the total recorded cyber crime reports in 2010 was 1,470,306, which increased to 4,720,743 by 2020!
•   In the last 5 years, cybercrime caused a total of $6 trillion in damages around the world. This figure is expected to jump to $10.5 trillion by 2025.

 (Source: Virtualarmour)

What are the best cybersecurity practices?

Simple cybersecurity etiquette and practices such as minimal sharing of data, privacy adjustments, website verification and training on spotting signs of malicious intent on the web can help customers and employees avoid cyber attacks.

Why is cyber security training important for businesses?

The standard business has customers, partners, clients, and employees. All of whom will use the company data archives to some extent. While some may have large access to sensitive data, others may have access to basic passwords and management systems.

Cybercrime usually targets the naïve, who are unaware of the dangers of phishing, malware, and tracking devices.

Basic cybersecurity awareness and cybersecurity training classes can help avoid many of these problems, making cybersecurity training very important for your business.

What is cybersecurity Training? 

Cybersecurity awareness training teaches people the best course of action and preventive measures when operating business data and software.

Teams can learn the following through successful cybersecurity training:

• How to successfully identify and prevent cyber-attacks
• How to spot data hacks and data breaches
• How to spot phishing activities and how to report it.
• Safe business protocols and compliance procedures

The four types of cybersecurity training are as follows: 

Level 1: Basic Cybersecurity Awareness

Level 2: Intermediate Cybersecurity Training

Level 3: Professional Level Cybersecurity

Level 4: Proactive/Advanced Cybersecurity training

A good cybersecurity course can give you the training and knowledge you seek in this arena. Ensure that you choose a course that aligns with your immediate needs.

What should a cybersecurity strategy include?

A good cybersecurity strategy recognises that cyber-attacks can come from both inside and outside the organisation. Hence, any business must take this into consideration when developing a cyber security strategy. Here are 5 tips to develop a great cybersecurity strategy.

1. Have a plan ready in case your data is breached: Having a plan ready enables your business to continue running smoothly even in the light of an unfortunate event of cyberattack or data loss.
2. Keep track of the roles and access your cloud vendors and ISPs have: This move can ensure that you don’t have data leaks from within the system.
3. Invest in research and understand your cyber enemies: With the help of data analysis, you can trace the patterns behind every attack. This can help you to prevent mishaps before they happen.
4. Ensure your data is protected both internally and externally: Lay down strict rules and protocols for everyone that has access to or handles your data.
5. Compliance vs security: Do not go by mere declarations you see on the web without proper verification, even if a software promises you that it will not use or store your data. 

What are the risks of not providing cybersecurity training?

• Increased exposure to malicious attacks on the web
• Slow responses when cyber attacks take place
• Loss of revenue and business funds
• Loss of customer trust and brand reputation
• Lack of business growth due to a low number of sponsors and business partners
• High level of rejection when it comes to business partnerships due to lack of cyber security in business
• Lower sales and profit
• Loss of important customers due to ill reputation

These are the main risks that every business faces when unaware of the best practices in cybersecurity.

What are the benefits of cyber security training?

The benefits of taking a cybersecurity course are endless. With the right cybersecurity training you can scale your business with confidence on the online marketplace. Training your employees and interns in basic cybersecurity practices can help ensure your business is safe from attacks and data breaches. 

5 core benefits of taking cybersecurity training:

1.   Increase cybersecurity awareness:

Increased awareness ensures lower levels of cyber attacks.

2.   Improved employee compliance:

Training ensures that your employees know and follow company policies related to data protection. This helps them have a consistent place of reference in cyber compliance procedures.

3.   Reduced business cost:

Proper cybersecurity training can limit the legal and financial costs that result from data breaches.

4.   Improved business performance:

Cybersecurity training helps employees understand their part in protecting company data. This bridges the gap in their knowledge of business operations and can result in improved productivity and reduced business costs.

5.   Securing stakeholder and customer trust:

With proper cybersecurity training and cybersecurity awareness programmes, businesses can protect their sensitive customer information. This in turn builds and maintains stakeholder and customer trust.

Investing in a cybersecurity course is essential in today’s digital world. Consider the cybersecurity training offered by The London School of Business and Finance, UK. (LSBF) 

LSBF provides quality education and is featured on the list of best business schools in the world. The cybersecurity programme offered by LSBF is certified by INT College Israel, a leading name for professional certification in the tech industry.