One way to measure the success of a security awareness program is to note the behaviors a firm desires to tackle and use the data collected to develop a clear, actionable method. Nevertheless, most cyber security leaders need a suitable framework to measure the effectiveness of their security awareness training. Consequently, their companies depend on intuition instead of clearly defined goals and evidence. An accurate method to measure the effectiveness of a security awareness training program is to create a measurement approach that includes employee feedback, simulated situations, interviews, verifications and tests. The following paper discusses the kind of metrics useful to test knowledge after securing awareness training, the significance of these metrics, and the process to implement the metrics.
Kind of Metrics
Knowledge assessment scores are one metric that would test knowledge after security awareness training. The knowledge tests can help identify employees’ comprehension of security best methods and the completion percentage for security training. This can happen if the firm measures the knowledge of employees before and after the training. Pre-training tests are crucial for determining the training program’s success (Alyami et al.., 2023). They act as a baseline for comprehending the workers’ knowledge before getting trained. Some methods that can be used for pre-assessments include online quizzes and questionnaires that tackle security topics. Mainly, the pre-training tests assist in noting areas of improvement and knowledge gaps. These findings can help establish a customized training program that tackles particular areas of weakness. The data collected will allow the firm to compare and decide if the training was successful. If the knowledge assessment results are good, then the self-awareness training program is effective.
The other kind of metric to measure knowledge of the self-awareness training program is the analysis of employees’ responses. Collecting employee feedback about the security awareness programs can provide crucial qualitative information. This feedback can be gathered using surveys or interviews to collect employees’ views, note problems, and identify improvement areas. Mainly, the surveys can include questions that examine the workers’ comprehension of security best practices, their ability to tackle security incidents, their experience with the training process, and how it will help them become effective in their work (Alyami et al.., 2023). The other useful metric is the phishing simulation results. Notably, phishing attacks are the most common risks firms encounter. Determining the success percentage of simulated phishing emails can assist in evaluating the security training programs’ success in identifying and mitigating these risks. Moreover, several metrics, such as overall awareness rates, reporting rates, and click-through percentages, can offer crucial responses for phishing tests. Mainly, click-throughs are essential to measuring the number of workers who are victims of phishing attacks.
The next key metric is security incident trends, which involves monitoring the incidence and severity of security trends to assess the success of the security awareness training. Notably, a decline in incidents shared by the security team shows improved awareness and incident deterrence. The final key metric is compliance metrics, which are composed of incident reporting percentages, multi-factor verification, data classification accuracy, and adherence to security controls (Hwang et al., 2021). The training’s success can be measured by comparing the compliance metrics before and after the execution of the training. If the compliance rates show an improvement, then the security awareness training was successful and impacted the worker’s comprehension of security requirements and their capability to adopt them in their work.
Use of Metrics
Measurement assesses the success of security awareness training and plays a fundamental part in driving continuous improvement initiatives. Organizations identify areas of weakness, patterns, and trends by examining the metrics and collected data, allowing them to polish their education programs. The employee responses and knowledge assessment scores are useful for organizations as they enable them to determine areas that obstruct employees from success. This information can help identify solutions to these weaknesses. Therefore, these metrics are useful in identifying areas of improvement (Alyami et al.., 2023). Moreover, the knowledge assessment scores can help understand the training program’s success. The scores obtained after the pre and post-trial results are compared and can help identify areas where workers need support or more information. The phishing simulation results metric could be useful in determining the effectiveness of the training by recognizing and managing phishing threats. Besides, this metric may help identify units or people that require more training and tailor the training program to meet the weaknesses identified in the program (Alyami et al.., 2023). The security incident trends can be used to understand the impact of security awareness training programs. If the results demonstrate a decline in security threats, then the training is successful.
Employee feedback metrics help in identifying areas of improvement in the training program. This is by identifying areas where workers were successful and areas where changes are required. The metric can also identify particular problems workers encounter when applying security practices and knowledge gaps present post-training (Hwang et al., 2021). Besides, examining employee feedback can offer a firm valuable insights for improving and promoting its future execution of the training programs. These responses can be used to develop more focused and impactful initiatives. Lastly, the compliance rates metrics can be used by firms to manage risk as the measure offers insights into probable risks and weaknesses. This data is crucial as it assists the firm in identifying and managing compliance threats and decreases the chance of workers violating regulations.
Executing metrics collected from the security awareness training program should be continuous. The metrics should be implemented before, during, and after training. During the pre-training period, the baseline test can be given to determine employees’ knowledge of security topics (Hwang et al., 2021). During the training, metrics can be given to determine the success of the training in the process. The assessments can be used to identify the level of understanding and tailor the training to tackle the knowledge gaps. During the post-training period, the metrics can be implemented to note areas of improvement in the training program.
In summary, the compliance metrics, employee feedback, phishing simulation results, and knowledge assessment scores offer an excellent way for firms to measure the success of their training program. Besides, these metrics allow firms to identify areas of improvement. These metrics can enable organizations to develop a dynamic and adaptive approach to mitigate cyber security issues. Incorporating these metrics in the training program provides a basis for improvement and inspires firms to tackle security issues effectively.
References
Alyami, A., Sammon, D., Neville, K., & Mahony, C. (2023). Critical success factors for Security Education, Training and Awareness (SETA) program effectiveness: an empirical comparison of practitioner perspectives. Information & Computer Security. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICS-08-2022-0133
Hwang, I., Wakefield, R., Kim, S., & Kim, T. (2021). Security awareness: The first step in information security compliance behavior. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 61(4), 345-356. https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2019.1650676
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