According to Kaspersky’s Business Digitisation survey, only 28% of companies surveyed in South Africa organised training on cybersecurity for their employees. And 16% did not organise any IT-related training for their employees, even on basic IT functions.
If an employee lacks digital skills and knowledge, this could lead to serious risks for the cybersecurity of the whole organisation: this employee could open a phishing link or download ransomware on a corporate device which may result in significant potential financial and reputation losses for the company.
But there is a demand for training among employees in South Africa: as many as 35% would like to see more regular training on cybersecurity. Most often these are requested by employees working in the spheres of construction and engineering, education, hospitality.
“The ‘human firewall’ is one of the key defenses from cyber incidents. Third party research showed that 95% of cybersecurity threats are in some way caused by human error². This is why workers on any level — from top managers to interns — should receive proper cybersecurity training,” comments Andrew Voges, Kaspersky GM for Africa.
“Kaspersky offers the Automated Security Awareness Platform to contribute to the education and upskilling of employees at all levels. The Platform is an online and on-premises tool that builds strong, practical cyber-hygiene skills for employees throughout the year.
“At the same time, organisations should be ready for the human firewall breach and the threat from within, and for that they need 360-degree protection. Extended Detection and Response – XDR – is a cybersecurity solution that plays a significant role in addressing advanced threats, going beyond traditional Endpoint Detection and Response by providing extended visibility and analysis across multiple security layers and domains.”