Today’s businesses have to deal with many risk factors, especially cybersecurity and its many related concerns. At this year’s Cybsafe Impact 2024 USA conference, intended to share human risk management insights, a very accomplished panel of experts shared various thoughts.

Let’s explore some of the topics this panel spoke on.

Cybersecurity Training Needs to Start Earlier and Address Modern Realities

Let’s face facts… the once-dreaded “iPad kid” trend is becoming more and more the accepted reality. Today’s youth are primarily being taught using technology, in addition to relying on it for entertainment, meaning they are more online than ever. 

Meanwhile, most cybersecurity awareness and training take place at the professional level—beyond the most essential, surface-level basics, at least. The panelists suggested that this kind of training should be implemented at a much younger age to help develop deeper and more reliable security habits.

Of course, the train has left the station in terms of training your team as children, so it is important to make up for lost time and regularly assign training opportunities to your team members.

ROI Should Be Measured in the Right Terms

There is no denying that it can be challenging to measure return on investment in many situations, and this is possibly most true where your business’ risk prevention is involved. There are simply too many data points to keep track of to focus on any one of them.

Do you need to focus most on the number of phishing emails avoided (as though there is a reliable way of tracking this) or on tracking how many attacks your antivirus blocks? Or is there another metric that will be more valuable to your risk prevention efforts?

Here’s the thing… At the end of the day, this approach is really missing the forest for the trees. Not only is it nearly impossible to identify exactly what it was that prevented risk and to what degree, it isn’t nearly as productive as focusing on the larger changes, like how much more attentive your team is to security best practices and factors like that.      

It Isn’t About Training So Much as About Inspiring Behavioral Changes through Improved Knowledgeability

Or, to put it bluntly: training someone is different than having them change their behavior.

The key is to collect as much data as you possibly can to find larger patterns and trends so you can encourage what has led to positive change in your business. Identifying these matters will allow you to take advantage of them to your business’ benefit in new and creative ways.

One thing the Cybsafe panel failed to mention, however, is how helpful a trusted IT resource can be to your risk prevention and other technology-related needs.

Reach out to us to talk about how we can help ensure your business is prepared to deal with cybersecurity issues by calling (760) 466-1200 today.