Ask any teacher, and they’ll tell you: passing a test does not guarantee learning. Simply completing security awareness training does not mean your employees are fully prepared to respond to an attack. To determine whether your security awareness training is effective, you have to measure how employee behaviour changes.
Is cybersecurity training really that important?
Your employees are both one of your strongest defenses and one of your biggest vulnerabilities. Even with top-of-the-line security software in place, if someone clicks a malicious link or fails to report a suspicious email, attackers can easily compromise your network.
Security awareness training teaches employees to recognize threats and how to respond. However, assigning an annual course with some light reading and a basic test is not enough. You need to know whether employees are applying what they learn to determine how well you are protected.
That means looking beyond simple course completion and measuring behaviours that can reduce your cybersecurity risk.
The security awareness training metrics that matter, and the ones that don’t
Not every security awareness training metric tells you something useful about your security posture, and some can even be misleading. Focusing on the right metrics and ignoring the noise will ensure better visibility over your security posture and thus reduced risk.
Security awareness training metrics that are less important
Training completion rates can confirm that employees completed a required course, which is fine when you have compliance obligations. However, they do not prove that your employees can recognize or respond to a real threat.
It’s the same with quiz scores and certificates. An employee can pass every quiz and still fall for a convincing phishing email, because the quiz isn’t trying to steal your data.
Even phishing click rates during simulated attacks can be misleading because the difficulty of the simulation affects results. For example, if the simulations are too easy or are based on older-style attacks, low click rates won’t mean a thing when employees are faced with stronger, modern attacks.
Use these metrics as supporting information rather than proof that your program is effective.
Metrics that should be a priority
Focus your security awareness training KPIs on proactive behaviour and improvement over time. Some important metrics include:
- Simulation reporting rate: Measures how often employees identify and report simulated threats. Simply speaking up when something suspicious happens tremendously helps security.
- Real-threat reporting rate: Shows whether employees apply their training to genuine malicious messages.
- Threat detection time: Measures how quickly employees report suspicious messages, giving your IT team more time to respond.
- Miss rate: Tracks employees who neither interact with nor report suspicious messages. A high rate can indicate that employees do not know what to do.
- Repeat-clicker reduction: Shows whether employees who previously struggled with simulations are improving after additional training.
In short, you should be focusing on the data that shows what your employees are actually doing, instead of what score they got on some arbitrary test.
Measuring data over time instead of recording metrics only after training is also key. You need to see the trends and how your cybersecurity culture is developing.
How to improve the effectiveness of your security awareness training
Here are some tips to help you strengthen your cybersecurity training.
1. Establish a baseline
Before training, measure your current reporting rate, detection time, miss rate, and repeat-clicker patterns. This gives you something to compare against as your program develops and helps identify trends.
2. Make training more regular and relevant
Short, frequent exercises can reinforce good security habits better than relying on one long annual course. Simulations should reflect the threats employees are likely to encounter, not kill retention by being a boring all-day activity.
3. Make reporting easy
Your workforce is busy; if employees have to navigate several steps to report a suspicious email, they may not bother. A fast, simple reporting process encourages employees to take action.
4. Foster a culture of vigilance
Avoid treating phishing simulations as a way to catch or punish employees. Employees should feel comfortable and be praised for reporting suspicious activity, even when they are unsure or have made an error.
5. Use your metrics to inform change
Don’t rely on the same old generic training. If reporting rates are low, review the reporting process. If the same employees repeatedly click simulated threats, provide additional, role-specific training rather than assigning the same course again.
Need better security awareness training to protect your business from data breaches? Contact XBASE for a personalized cybersecurity training program that enforces the right behavior instead of just checking boxes.