3 Reasons Proactive Security Awareness Should Matter to You

These days, social engineering attacks are one of the top threats to your company’s cybersecurity. A recent study found that, on average, organizations get targeted by more than 700 social engineering attacks per year. This type of threat includes techniques such as phishing and ransomware, and it relies on a lack of awareness, attention, and time to assess the threat.

Proactive security awareness helps ensure social engineering attacks do not compromise your end users or your essential work. If your company’s cybersecurity matters to you, here are three reasons proactive security awareness should matter too.

1. Proactive security awareness complements your reactive security programs

Reactive security programs such as antivirus, antimalware, and firewall security are all essential protective components. Most companies are more familiar with reactive security than proactive security. However, both are necessary to provide you with comprehensive protection against all types of cybersecurity threats.

Both types of security programs mitigate expected threats to your cybersecurity. However, while reactive security kicks in to end or minimize the damage already done by something that has happened, proactive security is all about managing threats before they occur.

Rather than being tactical, proactive security awareness is strategic. It is a deeper solution and response that focuses on limiting your exposure to threats. Proactive security provides nearly constant cybersecurity management, including analyzing network and endpoint activity to identify threat indicators such as new or concentrated activity.

2. Proactive security awareness arms your team against threats

The most critical proactive security action you can take is supporting staff awareness and training. Proactive security awareness helps generate awareness of how end users get targeted and compromised, signs you should be suspicious, and steps to proceed with caution.

It is essential to provide your team with information and tactics for avoiding common threat vectors such as email scams and spear phishing. When done correctly, proactive security awareness training should be a fairly minimal cost and time commitment, especially compared to the high cost of having your cybersecurity compromised.

Partnering with an experienced provider such as Data Evolution will ensure you get high-quality training content in easy-to-understand formats with ongoing tests and monitoring. Learn more in our resource on end-user security training from onboarding to offboarding.

3. Proactive security awareness provides comprehensive, scalable protection

Each company’s cybersecurity needs are unique. The right IT service provider can help you select proactive security components that are right for your organization. These can include:

  • Onboarding materials to inform new employees about the company’s cybersecurity policies, common threats, and how to avoid or limit exposure to threats
  • Awareness training presentations
  • Tools and programs for ongoing training and identifying “click-happy” users
  • Threat analysis to identify high-priority threats by analyzing the likelihood and potential impact of a threat event
  • Developing company policies to help raise awareness and establish protocols for responding to threats
  • Proactive endpoint monitoring and network management

Not every company requires, for example, an instant-response plan from scratch for responding to threats. However, proactive security awareness in some form is critical to every company’s cybersecurity.

Here at Data Evolution, your security matters to us. Let us help you incorporate proactive security awareness to protect your organization from social engineering attacks and other threats to your team and work. Contact us to start a partnership.