Email Security Awareness Training

Why is email security training important?

Email continues to be one of the top vectors for cyberattacks. From phishing emails and ransomware to impersonation and CEO fraud, many of the most devastating security breaches originate with an email. Human error is central to the success of these attacks – it only takes one employee making one mistake to enable a security catastrophe.

Email security training can significantly mitigate human error – but only when training courses are effective. Sadly, too many cyber security training courses are boring, time-consuming and poorly conceived, making it hard for employees to pay attention let alone learn the best practices they need to master.

While most CISOs know this and are committed to security awareness training, the results to date are disappointing. Billions of dollars have been committed to cyber awareness training, but companies are even more likely to experience a data breach today than they were just a few years ago.

One possible reason: most email security awareness programs are deadly dull. They're too long, too boring and conducted too infrequently. As a result, employees don't pay attention, don't remember best practices or they simply don't care.

Mimecast Awareness Training is a web and email security awareness program that produces significant results by turning the traditional formula for security awareness training for employees on its head.

Promoting email security awareness through humor

Studies that humor is a highly effective tool in education. Ask any educator – humor works with students of all ages, promoting greater learning results and long-term memory retention.

To improve the effectiveness of cyber security awareness training, Mimecast programs are designed to get employees laughing. Each Mimecast Awareness Training module centers on a 2- to 3-minute video written by real comedy writers and produced by entertainment industry pros. The content is genuinely funny – employees love the characters in these mini sitcoms and look forward to every episode.

Each training module focuses on one specific threat: what it is, how to handle it properly and what happens if you don't. Modules only take 5 minutes a month, allowing employees to learn critical concepts in short doses rather than overwhelming them with comprehensive content. Topics cover everything from phishing and ransomware to HIPAA and GDPR compliance to password mistakes and insider threat awareness training.

FAQs: Email Security Awareness Training

What is email security awareness?

Email security awareness is a term that refers to an employee's understanding of the variety, nature and details of cyber threats facing the organization. Superior email security awareness allows employees to recognize threats when they encounter them and to know best how to respond to or avoid them in order to protect the organization.

Why do we need email security awareness training?

Email security awareness training is critical for one reason: most cybersecurity attacks involve some level of human error. Effective email security awareness training can help employees to better recognize the signs of an attack and to avoid the kind of action or behavior that puts the organization and themselves at risk.

How long does email security training take?

The length of email security training courses varies widely. Some programs concentrate several hours of learning into a single session, while others may spread learning out over multiple training modules. Mimecast Awareness Training uses 3- to 5-minute modules delivered monthly to make training a regular part of an employee's responsibilities without overwhelming them with lengthy training sessions and lots of information.