More than 90% of business leaders believe that increased employee cybersecurity awareness would help decrease the occurrence of cyberattacks.The most recent Global Threat Landscape Report from Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs found that ransomware threats remain at peak levels with no evidence of slowing down globally. At the same time, Fortinet’s 2023 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Global Report found that 84% of organisations experienced one or more breaches in 2022.
Now, as organisations face increasing cyber risks, Fortinet’s 2023 Security Awareness and Training Global Research Brief highlights the important role of employees in serving as an organisation’s first line of defense in protecting their organisation from cybercrime.
Additional key findings from Fortinet’s research include:
* Employees are being targeted by cyber criminals. The research found that 81% of organisations faced malware, phishing, and password attacks last year which mainly were targeted at users. This underscores that employees can be an organisation’s weakest point or one of its most powerful defenses.
* Having an effective training program is key to instilling good cyber hygiene in employees. Eighty-five percent of leaders say their organisation has a security awareness and training program, yet more than 50% believe their employees still lack cybersecurity knowledge. This gap suggests the training programs in place may not be as effective as they could be, resulting in inconsistency in how employees apply good cyber hygiene practices or that training is not reinforced sufficiently.
* Cybersecurity is increasingly becoming a priority for the Board of Directors. The report found that 93% of organisations indicated their board of directors are asking about the organisations cyber defenses and strategy.
John Maddison, executive vice-president: products and chief marketing officer at Fortinet, comments: “Our 2023 Security Awareness and Training Global Research Brief underscores the crucial role employees play in preventing cyberattacks. It also highlights the critical need for organisations to prioritise security awareness and training services to ensure employees serve as the first line of defense.”
Republished courtesy of IT-Online