It may come as a surprise to many businesses that the leading cause of cybersecurity breaches sits at a desk somewhere within the organization. Data indicates that human error is responsible to some degree for enabling cyber-attacks in over 90% of cases. This highlights the importance of user awareness and adherence to best practices as the primary defense against cyber threats, despite advancements in technology aimed at mitigating those risks.
But let's face it, traditional awareness training can be dull and unengaging. That's where gamification to reduce human error in cybersecurity comes in. By incorporating game-like elements into security training, employees are more likely to stay engaged and retain important information, creating a human firewall that can protect your business from ever-present cyber threats.
In this article, we'll explore the benefits of gamification in security awareness training and how it can help level up your company's information security game.
What is security awareness training?
In simple terms, employee security awareness training has three main objectives to achieve:
- Encourage employees across all levels of the organization to change their behavior by providing them with engaging and pertinent content that incorporates resources specific to their industry and job responsibilities.
- All employees should be trained to identify and report social engineering and phishing attacks. This can be achieved by conducting phishing simulations to educate employees on how to avoid such threats.
- To evaluate security risk and effectiveness of training, it is important to monitor levels of engagement, detect patterns of behavior, and identify those who require additional training
What is gamification in security awareness training?
Employee security training is an essential aspect of any organization's operations. However, it can be challenging to keep employees engaged and motivated during the training process. That's where gamification comes in. By incorporating game-like elements into the training process, such as rewards, badges, and leaderboards, employees are more likely to stay engaged and retain information.
Gamification has been proven to increase user engagement and motivation across various contexts, including employee security training. By utilizing gamification techniques in employee security training, organizations can ensure their employees are knowledgeable about security protocols while also staying engaged and motivated throughout the process.
Why is gamification so valuable in security awareness training?
There are several reasons that using gamification in security awareness training has become so vital today. With the increase of cyber-attacks across industries and in businesses of all sizes, a poor cybersecurity culture in your business can have devastating effects.
Businesses are expected to face a bigger challenge with cybercrime in the coming years as cyber-attackers use advanced methods and techniques to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. Due to the rapid progression of technology, many companies are unable to keep up with securing their data and operations, making it imperative to prioritize comprehensive cybersecurity training as a key defense strategy.
Increased engagement and motivation
Traditional security awareness training can be boring and unengaging. Gamification can introduce competition into the training process. Leaderboards and challenges can motivate employees to compete with their colleagues and improve their performance. Rewards and recognition can be used to incentivize employees and improve motivation. When employees are motivated to learn, they are more likely to retain important information and follow best practices.
Improved knowledge retention
Gamification can help improve knowledge retention by making the training experience more memorable and personalized. Employees can choose their own avatars, earn rewards, and track their progress. This personalization can make the training experience more engaging and motivate employees to continue learning.
When employees are actively engaged in the training process, they are more likely to remember the information they learn. This can help improve overall security awareness and reduce the risk of security breaches.
Real-time feedback
Gamification can provide real-time feedback to employees on their progress and performance. This can help employees understand what areas of security awareness they need to improve and motivate them to continue learning. Real-time feedback can also help employees feel more involved in the training process and increase their sense of accomplishment. It also helps organizations to measure the effectiveness of the training program and determine if the training program is having a positive impact on employee behavior, such as fewer security incidents or an increase in self-reporting of security issues.
Level up your security game with ThreatAdvice cybersecurity education
Gamification can be a powerful tool for improving security awareness training. ThreatAdvice Cybersecurity Education offers a solution to turn your organization's biggest cybersecurity vulnerability, your employees, into a strong defense against hackers. Through the use of micro-learning, video courses, testing, gamification, phishing simulations, and tracking of employee progress, ThreatAdvice Cybersecurity Education can help level up your company's security game and reduce the risk of security breaches.
