Essentially, you need to remember that even the best and most skilled employees make honest mistakes. They forget procedures. They fall for sophisticated social engineering and fraud attempts. But if you follow the advice written here, and better still, consult cybersecurity experts like Huntress, you can defend against these attacks.

Keep the training ongoing

Security threats evolve, so training has to be frequent and continuously updated. Almost all cybersecurity awareness best practices guides stress the importance of ongoing SAT, and with good reason. Frequent training builds good habits, but it’s also equally important that the content evolves alongside emerging threats. If training stays static, even regular sessions can leave employees unprepared for new attack methods. Keeping your SAT up to date makes sure your team is always learning about the latest risks and can respond effectively. 

Make training contextually relevant

Teach real attack vectors employees may encounter, the actual risk levels they face, and the risky behaviors that could put them in danger. The more generalized the training, the easier it is to ignore and forget. Huntress, for example, focuses on modern, real-world threats, making sure that the training content stays relevant to the latest risks employees will likely come up against. While the core modules are standardized, behavior-based assignments and phishing defense coaching give extra opportunities for employees to learn from content in a context that reflects actual threat scenarios.  

Build a culture of security

Training is only one piece of the puzzle. Reinforce security through leadership and daily practices. This needs to be a top-down effort. Make sure your people know they are expected to actually follow cybersecurity awareness best practices, and make sure the content is engaging, approachable, and fun so that everyone, regardless of technical background, can actively help build a strong security culture.  

Use metrics that matter

A good SAT justifies itself by tracking how much better your security posture gets, not by how many people clicked “attend” on Teams. Focus on behavior change, not just course completion.

The five Cs provide a framework for effective security awareness training (SAT) and make sure that employees are ready to recognize and respond to threats: 

• Change: Update training content regularly to reflect the changing threat landscape and keep employees aware of the latest attack methods.

• Compliance: Align training with the regulations, laws, and industry standards to help employees understand the rules and expectations around cybersecurity. 

• Cost: Invest in SAT programs wisely. Training requires resources, but remember the cost of unprepared employees falling for attacks is much higher.

• Continuity: Use SAT to build resilience, making sure employees know how to respond to incidents and maintain ops under pressure.

Cybersecurity training best practices rest on three main pillars. You need all three to stand strong:

• People: Make sure that all your employees, even those in non-technical roles, understand the basics of cybersecurity and know what to do. 

• Processes: Review and document the roles, activities, and strategies devoted to cybersecurity, making sure employees have no more access to your systems than necessary to do their jobs. 

• Technology: Make sure the tech you use supports the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data.

You can help make sure that security awareness training best practices are part of your culture by:

1. Assessing your people's current cybersecurity awareness accurately and in detail.

2. Putting cybersecurity policies in place to address the gaps found in the assessment.

3. Making sure that all your staff are trained in the best practices that apply to your organization and their roles.

That is exactly what we offer. 

Huntress SAT’s adaptive training platform is continuously researched and updated to evolve alongside new threats, delivering long-term behavior change. 

Don’t settle for checkbox compliance that’s all talk and no action. Make the most of the Huntress Security Awareness Training and turn your team into the cybersecurity heroes your business needs.