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4 Keys to an Effective Cybersecurity Training Program

Cybersecurity doesn’t only refer to technology — in addition to hardware and software, you need to train your analysts on the ins and outs of keeping your data safe. Every organization needs a strong cybersecurity training program to ensure there aren’t any weak points in the defense that’s keeping your data protected and your mission operational. Watch the video below to learn more about our methods and what you need to do in order to build a cybersecurity training program that enables your people to use their tools to protect against cyberattacks effectively.

The best cybersecurity training program is one that puts your analysts to the test against real intruder tactics. But before you can test them, you have to train them. Here are 4 key items that every cybersecurity training plan should include:

  1. Develop a key task list
  2. Conduct individual skill training
  3. Conduct team training
  4. Build a training schedule

Firewalls, threat detection software, and disaster recovery solutions are all vital to keeping your organization protected from a cyberattack, but they’re only as good as the hands that operate them. At SightGain, we developed our strategy for facing cyberattacks by following the military’s concept of “train how you fight.”Watch the video below to learn more about our methods and what you need to do in order to build a cybersecurity training program that enables your people to use their tools to prevent cyberattacks from occurring effectively.

Learn More:

How Do SOC Teams Stay Attentive to New Threats?

6 Best Ways to Improve Your SOC Analysts’ Skills

The Importance of Cybersecurity Training Standards

The Benefits of Purple Teaming Your SOC Analysts

Building a Cybersecurity Team That Clicks

Video Transcript

Timestamps
0:00 Intro
0:56 Cybersecurity Training Program: A Key Task List
1:26 Cybersecurity Training Program: Conduct Individual Skill Training
1:44 Cybersecurity Training Program: Team-Level Training
2:14 Build A Training Schedule

I want to share how your company can create an effective internal cybersecurity training program. Most organizations think that all they have to do is invest in the right technology and hire the right talent, and then they’ll be secure. But in reality, security is a complex interaction between people and technology, and training is the key component in maintaining a high state of cyber readiness. Today, I’ll talk about four keys that you can use to help create an effective internal cybersecurity training program for your company.

I spent over ten years in the Army working with and training militaries all over the world. When it comes to effective training, we have one simple saying: train how you fight.

Since leaving the Army, I’ve been working with organizations to help them apply that principle to cybersecurity training.

Here are four keys to help your organization develop an effective internal cybersecurity training program to protect against cyberattacks.

0:56 Cybersecurity Training Program: Develop A Key Task List

#1 Develop a key task list. This should include both individual and organizational level skills, and this serves as a rubric to help develop your training program and measure your progress and performance.

You should maintain and update the key task list on either a monthly or quarterly basis, and existing task lists, like the national initiative for cybersecurity education, are a great place to start because it has things like knowledge skills, abilities that you’ll want to use to train the personnel at your organization.

1:26 Cybersecurity Training Program: Conduct Individual Skill Training

Number two, conduct individual skill training. Your SOC analysts are your front lines of the cybersecurity fight, and you need to make sure that they stay sharp. Individual skills include things like knowledge of the latest threats, as well as how to use the technology in your environment to identify and stop those threats.

1:44 Cybersecurity Training Program: Conduct Team-Level Training

Number three, conduct team-level training. Most organizations use a tiered approach when it comes to cybersecurity. They have tier-one, tier-two, and tier-three analysts. They usually have a process by which they escalate different threats after they identify them. For more complex problems, they have to escalate it to a level two, and then for the most difficult ones, they have to escalate it to a level three. It’s important to practice and train these processes to ensure that they work as designed and then make improvements for things that don’t work as you want them to.

2:14 Build A Training Schedule

Number four, build a training schedule. With all the obligations that teams face today, it’s very easy for training to get pushed to the back burner, but that would be a mistake. Training may be something that could be sacrificed in the short term, but it doesn’t take long before you pay the price by compromising your security.

To avoid that, develop a training schedule, put it on the calendar. That way you know it becomes a consistent part of your rhythm.

Hopefully, you’ve recognized the importance of training and the role that that plays in the security of your organization.

We reviewed four key things that can help you develop and implement an effective cybersecurity training program.

If you want help, check out our website, sightgain.com. And if you like this video, be sure to hit the like button and leave a comment, and subscribe to our channel to see all the latest innovations on cybersecurity training that we’re working on at SightGain.