To Help You Meet Compliance and Security Requirements
Periodic security training for employees and management is a best practice in any organization in any industry. In highly regulated industries it is required. And with many parts of the economic landscape still moving slowly since the pandemic, the final months of 2021 are a perfect time to conduct that training.
These four security training options are available individually or can be bundled to optimize your time and budget. And they are available now, so schedule yours today.
Cybersecurity Awareness Training
In today’s hyper-connected world, most of us work, shop, socialize, and entertain ourselves online. And as we keep extending our uses of the internet, cybercrime continues to climb and evolve. For these reasons, cybersecurity awareness should be the top job for every individual who works on a computer.
How do you make that happen in a busy organization? Management has to make that message loud and clear. And you have to make time for training.
Your Digital Assets. Cybersecurity awareness training for your employees is a vital component of your cybersecurity program. Your business owns assets of all kinds – from customer data and intellectual property to proprietary information and confidential records.
As management, you certainly understand the importance of protecting your data and other digital assets. Do your employees? Not just your IT or HR personnel – but every employee in every department?
What Employees Learn. Following are some of the benefits of providing cybersecurity awareness training across the organization:
- Employees learn that protecting data is vital in maintaining the trust and confidence of clients, partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
- Employees learn to understand the wide variety of cyber risks and attacks that occur every day, including ransomware attacks, and how social engineering plays a role in fooling even the smartest employee.
- Employees learn to take seriously their role in safeguarding the company’s digital assets.
- Employees learn exactly what to do if they suspect something is wrong, and why they should do it.
- Employees also learn the organization’s policies and procedures related to information security and data privacy, including escalation procedures.
Your Best Defense. Cybersecurity awareness training should be conducted periodically to deliver updated content and help employees assimilate and retain the lessons. This training is not about checking a box for compliance or audit purposes. It has helped companies prevent data breaches (with the attendant fines and bad publicity), fend off ransomware attacks (and avoid paying thousands to reclaim their own data), and even stop malicious insiders from stealing company assets.
Custom Compliance Training
Virtually every business in the U.S. today is governed by at least one set of regulations. Public companies must meet SEC requirements. Financial institutions are subject to GLBA and FINRA. Healthcare organizations large and small must meet HIPAA and HITECH mandates, which are extensive and complex. Any business that accepts credit or debit cards as a form of payment is subject to PCI DSS standards. The International Organization for Standardization and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework offer compliance guidance across multiple industries.
Compliance Relies on Individuals. The point is that regulatory compliance is a daily fact of life. Individual employees and their behaviors are essential to maintaining full compliance and avoiding exceptional regulatory scrutiny.
Employee training in compliant behaviors is a must for organizations interested in establishing a culture of compliance. And maintaining a culture of compliance throughout your organization is the most effective way to sustain compliance over time.
Learning Management System. There is an option for online training that offers complete customization as well as amazing interactivity for the learner. Utilizing a simple and feature-rich Learning Management System, 24By7Security is able to offer the most authentic and engaging eLearning courses on the market. Following are a few of the advantages of our program:
- Compliance training courses can be customized for every regulation and every organization, including custom branding.
- Courses can be tiered to offer high-level perspectives as well as detailed training.
- Employee progress reports are available to employees and management.
- Employees decide when, where, and how they engage in training, within whatever parameters you choose to set.
And because our custom compliance training is built online and delivered online, every employee can be accommodated no matter where they work. All they need is a computer and internet access.
HIPAA Training
In addition to the financial industry, healthcare is the most highly regulated sector in the U.S. The foremost regulation, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), requires annual employee training. Not only is training an administrative requirement of the HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR 164.530), but it is also a required administrative safeguard of the HIPAA Security Rule (45 CFR 164.308). Specifically, a covered entity must train, on an annual basis, all workforce members regarding its security policies and procedures.
HIPAA Expertise. To create compliant training, content developers must have a thorough knowledge of the Privacy and Security Rules and other HIPAA requirements. At 24By7Security, our HIPAA training professionals are well-versed in compliance requirements. They have crafted a comprehensive HIPAA Training program that meets the most current training needs for healthcare employees of covered entities and business associates.
Alternately, we can work with you to structure a program that meets your organization’s specific needs related to personnel roles, learning formats, content, and budget, while ensuring that all minimum HIPAA requirements are met.
And because individuals learn in different ways, we offer HIPAA training in a wide variety of formats, including:
- Classroom training
- Online webinars
- White papers and blogs
- Online self-paced training
- Train the trainer program
- Newsletters to reinforce content
- Regular email reminders and quizzes
On request, we will periodically test the effectiveness of training formats as well as content retention among employees and are happy to schedule refresher training as needed. Learn much more about HIPAA in this easy-to-read HIPAA Compliance Guide. Additional help is offered by Health and Human Services in the form of FAQs to help clarify HIPAA regulations.
Cyber Drills and IT Tests
Nothing beats real-world drills that enable IT and SOC staff to learn or hone the special skills needed to identify and respond to cyberthreats. Training is important in IT for several reasons:
- IT staff can become complacent in stable corporate environments where software does a lot of the work.
- They can be overwhelmed on a daily basis by the number of alerts reported by firewalls and intrusion detection systems.
- They can just be too busy to keep up with their cybersecurity reading, and so fall behind in their knowledge of current and emerging threats.
These scenarios aren’t their fault. IT staff are often pulled in many directions and motivated to grease the squeakiest wheel. That’s why the Chief Technology Officer, Chief Information Security Officer, and other executives must make training a periodic priority for their IT staff.
Cyber Range. An effective, fun, and challenging way to do that is with drills that test their skills and teach them new ones. One popular option enables IT personnel to remain at their desks and log into a virtual cyber range, where they can practice various drills and deal with multiple types of cyber incidents and other real-world scenarios.
SOC team training, individual IT pro training, cyber awareness evaluations, red team/blue team exercises, and capture-the-flag events are all employed to provide variety, healthy competitiveness, and meaningful learning. 24By7Security is pleased to offer virtual cyber range programs for your IT staff.
Summary
The final months of 2021 are ideal for completing cybersecurity and compliance training for your employees. Especially if they haven’t received this type of training in more than a year.
Cybercrime increases every year, and cybercriminals have become adept in manipulating company employees to disclose information they shouldn’t. Cybersecurity training helps employees keep their guard up to protect company data and other digital assets. Compliance training helps the company meet regulatory requirements.
The four security training options outlined here offer flexibility and customization and can be bundled to optimize your time and budget. Schedule yours today.
