Why cybersecurity awareness increases the awareness of security issues and the IT security of companies with fake phishing campaigns. Lucy Security Solves: The Five Biggest Myths About Simulated Phishing Messages.
The benefits of cybersecurity awareness, especially phishing simulations, are currently being widely discussed. Theoretical studies are said to have found that simulated phishing campaigns are said to have a negative impact on the working atmosphere, the culture of trust and error. This is also said to have worsened the relationship of trust with corporate management.
Online study Cybersecurity Awareness 2020
The Swiss company Lucy Security asked companies about the practical benefits and challenges of cybersecurity awareness in a global online study entitled “The benefits and challenges of cybersecurity awareness 2020” in June 2020. Most of the companies surveyed successfully conduct this awareness training. Based on this study, Palo Stacho, Co-Founder and Head of Operations at Lucy Security, dispels five myths:
Myth 1: Security awareness measures do not increase the IT security of a company!
Palo Stacho: "Not correct. A full 96 percent of survey participants fully or largely agree that their employees' cybersecurity awareness has increased in the last few months or years. 98 percent of the participants are convinced that security awareness measures make real attacks more difficult. And 94 percent of the companies say that the measures will even strengthen the IT security infrastructure. Our study was able to prove that cybersecurity awareness increases awareness and contributes to corporate security. "
Myth 2: Phishing simulations unsettle employees!
Palo Stacho: “A claim that people like to make: phishing simulations are supposed to cause anxiety among employees. The survey does not confirm this: The majority of over 73 percent of the participants said that their employees were not unsettled by the measures. And this even though more than half of the companies surveyed (58 percent) had not announced the phishing simulations beforehand. "
Myth 3: Phishing campaigns have a negative effect on the working atmosphere!
Palo Stacho: “Our study has shown that 95 percent of the companies have received the measures well with the employees. The effects of phishing simulations on the working atmosphere were very positive for almost 11 percent of the participants, largely positive for 32 percent and rather positive for 52 percent. We were also able to determine that the security awareness measures strengthened trust in the management. 89 percent of respondents fully, mostly or somewhat agreed that trust in the management was not compromised when phishing campaigns were carried out. "
Myth 4: Better to spend the money on IT security solutions than on security awareness measures!
“The benefits of cybersecurity awareness go much further” Palo Stacho, co-founder of Lucy Security
Palo Stacho: “If 92 percent of the respondents state that the same level of security cannot be maintained if the available resources and budgets are invested exclusively in technical security measures (application gateways, firewalls or virus scanners, etc.), then that is definitely a myth. This means that companies use cybersecurity awareness to significantly increase their IT security. More technology will not be able to do that. "
Myth 5: Phishing campaigns have a negative impact on the error culture in companies
Palo Stacho: “That is a wrong assumption. We were able to completely refute this statement through our study. All of them, I would like to emphasize again, 100 percent of the companies surveyed in the study stated that security awareness measures have a positive effect on the company's error culture. Together with the above-mentioned result that the trust of the company management is not questioned, it can be said that there is a very high level of acceptance of security awareness among employees in the company. "
Background: What are security awareness measures?
Nowadays, many companies not only invest in professional IT security solutions, but also in training and in specific measures for their employees to make them more security-conscious. Employees need to know which current threat scenarios can come from the Internet. The aim of cybersecurity awareness solutions is therefore the general protection of the company against the damage caused by cyber crime. This is achieved through targeted training of employees. Through internal analysis, Lucy Security has found that properly implemented awareness programs can make a company up to ten times more secure.
Find out more at LucySecurity.com
About Lucy Security Lucy was founded in 2015 and has transformed the experience of its founders in the field of ethical hacking into comprehensive training software that enables a 360 ° view of the IT security weaknesses of an organization. To date, more than 11 million users have been trained in 10.000 installations worldwide. Lucy continues to receive numerous industry awards, including the 2020 ISPG Award for Best Cybersecurity Education and Training and the 2020 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards for Best Anti-Phishing and Security Education Platform. The company is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland with a US office in Austin, TX. More information is available at www.lucysecurity.com.