Do you conduct cyber security training in your company? If you do, are you sure your training is effective and bringing the change you require?
A survey of over 1200 employees revealed that 61% failed the basic cybersecurity test even though they received cybersecurity training from their company. The only thing to infer from the survey is that your cyber security training lacks something.
In this post, we will walk you through the importance of cybersecurity training and how you can do that effectively using learning technologies like a learning management system
Do You Truly Need Cybersecurity Compliance Training?
The need for cyber security training was always there, but the need escalated during the last two years of the COVID phase. Since the pandemic hit us, the world has switched gears and is now online.
People with less technical knowledge also attended meetings using virtual tools. They also now complete most (if not all) of their tasks through various software.
Are your employees using the technology correctly? Are you sure they know how to distinguish between fake and genuine emails? A click on a wrong link can open doors for fraudsters to enter your system. Now, more than ever, the need for cybersecurity in compliance training is higher.
If you are still not convinced, probably some facts will help you gauge its importance. A report by Tanium revealed every 9 out of 10 organizations faced an increased number of cyber attacks due to the pandemic.
Most data breaches and other cyber attacks happen due to human error. You cannot eliminate the possibility of your employees making an error, but you can certainly educate them enough to reduce the likelihood of such errors.
A Few Things Your Cyber Security Training Might Be Lacking
Before we get into how you can create a better cyber security program with an LMS, let’s discuss some things your course probably lacks. Knowing the problems in your training might help you create better learning materials.
- Too many technical words and concepts
- Only text-heavy PowerPoint presentations
- Lack of interactiveness during the course
- Not covering the most important topics
- Unrelatable content
- Regular assessments and assignments to ensure retention
- Lack of motivation
- A flexible learning system
- Employees find it difficult to pay attention
How Can An LMS Help Deliver Better Cybersecurity Training?
Poor cyber security awareness is probably the outcome of inadequate compliance training. We saw a few reasons your course might not be very effective at producing good results.
Let’s see how we can tackle these issues with LMS for compliance training.
Conduct Training Anywhere And Anytime
With eLearning, your employees can complete cybersecurity training whenever they are for free. They don’t have to adjust their schedule to attend the training. Learning when they are free of any responsibilities will reduce cognitive load.
With mobile learning, employees can even learn on the go. It saves them a lot of time, and they can strike a better work-life balance. An LMS makes tedious training a breeze.
Using Micro-Learning
LMS allows you to use micro-learning in your training, which refers to using bite-sized content modules in your course. Micro-content can be anything from a 5-minute video to an infographic, a flashcard, or a small podcast.
Delivering the training in smaller parts is easily digestible to the employees. It reduces the cognitive load and ensures they remember the content for a long time.
After every few videos, you can include a small objective assessment to ensure retention.
Employees Can Access The Material At Any Time
As long as the employee is part of the company, they can access the course material anytime.
Say, for example, your training taught the learners about malware and the authorized software that the company uses. The employees can forget the small details. But since they have access to the course material, they can quickly look into it again. If you have used micro-learning to teach these concepts, they can simply rewatch a few videos and recall whatever they learned.
Gamification
If your course lacks fun and encouragement, the gamification feature of an LMS can help you out. You can gamify your course and make it exciting.
Remember, gamification doesn’t imply turning your course into a game.
You can use badges, points and rewards, and a leaderboard. A leaderboard can display a winner every month, and you should give a tangible reward to the winner to acknowledge their efforts and motivate others
Update New Rules Immediately
Cybersecurity rules can change continuously. An LMS lets you update the course as and when required. You can even notify your employees to show them the new updates.
Updating the course is relatively simple, so don’t worry about being less tech-savvy. Moreover, a good LMS has robust customer support, so if there is something you are unsure about, you can take help from the vendor’s customer care service.
Build Communities For Better Interaction
There must be employees from different departments attending the cyber training. A community feature can allow them to form groups and chat with each other.
You can also send automated messages to congratulate the employees on completing the training. Acknowledgment from the manager means a lot to the employees.
Use Multimedia
Looking at the same PowerPoint Presentation over and over again can be boring. When people get bored, they also tend to pay less attention because they get easily distracted.
Using different media formats can spice up the visual appeal of your course. You can use animated videos, podcasts, infographics, etc., to add variety to the course material.
Bottom Line
Although an LMS can take your course and its outcomes from a 6 to a 10, without quality and engaging content, your employees would still find it challenging to train themselves.
Make sure the content is simple, crisp, and fun. It should be easy to understand for an employee of any department and age. Conduct a risk assessment for your system before you plan the course. It will help you customize the content to your company’s safety requirements.
