{"id":26813,"date":"2019-04-17T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.darkreading.com\/threat-intelligence\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/d\/d-id\/1334416"},"modified":"2019-04-17T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T13:00:00","slug":"7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/header>\n

Breaches and compliance requirements have heightened the need for continuous and effective employee training, security experts say.<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\"Previous\"<\/span><\/p>\n

1 of 8<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Next\"<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n
\n

Image Source: Shutterstock<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Employee security awareness training programs have become a necessity for organizations in recent years because of the high percentage of data breaches caused by careless and negligent workers.<\/p>\n

Phishing, in particular, continues to be a top attack vector because of the success threat actors have in tricking employees into downloading malware on their systems or following links to malicious sites. Many data breaches are also the result of poor employee password security habits and the failure to follow enterprise policies for data access, use, sharing, and storage.<\/p>\n

In fact, negligent employees are one of the highest security risks for organizations in the US and elsewhere, according to a 2018 study by Shred-It<\/a>. Eighty-four percent of C-suites and 51% of small-business owners described such employees as their biggest security problem. Ninety-six percent of Americans hold negligent employees as least partly to blame for data breaches at major US companies.<\/p>\n

“While data breaches that grab headlines are often perpetrated by external threats, at least half of all security breaches are carried out by insiders,” says Chris Olson, CEO of The Media Trust. This can include malicious insiders, negligent employees, and third parties with access to the enterprise network.<\/p>\n

But breaches are not the only reason for employee training. Many regulations, including PCI and HIPAA, mandate regular employee security awareness training. While requirements for such training can vary, the goal is to ensure companies take measures to address risks posed by employees and other insiders with trusted access to enterprise networks and assets.<\/p>\n

Here, experts share some of the key attributes that make up an effective employee security awareness training program.<\/p>\n

Jai Vijayan is a seasoned technology reporter with over 20 years of experience in IT trade journalism. He was most recently a Senior Editor at Computerworld, where he covered information security and data privacy issues for the publication. Over the course of his 20-year … View Full Bio<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\"Previous\"<\/span><\/p>\n

1 of 8<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Next\"<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

More Insights<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Breaches and compliance requirements have heightened the need for continuous and effective employee training, security experts say. Read More HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-darkreading-ti"],"yoast_head":"\n7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-17T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/img.deusm.com\/informationweek\/slideshow-arrow-gray-left.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"TH Author\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@threatshub\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@threatshub\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"TH Author\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"TH Author\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/12e0a8671ff89a863584f193e7062476\"},\"headline\":\"7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-17T13:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":347,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/img.deusm.com\\\/informationweek\\\/slideshow-arrow-gray-left.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"DarkReading |TI\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/\",\"name\":\"7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/img.deusm.com\\\/informationweek\\\/slideshow-arrow-gray-left.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-17T13:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/img.deusm.com\\\/informationweek\\\/slideshow-arrow-gray-left.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/img.deusm.com\\\/informationweek\\\/slideshow-arrow-gray-left.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News\",\"description\":\"%%focuskw%% Threat Intel \u2013 Threat Intel Services \u2013 CyberIntelligence \u2013 Cyber Threat Intelligence - Threat Intelligence Feeds - Threat Intelligence Reports - CyberSecurity Report \u2013 Cyber Security PDF \u2013 Cybersecurity Trends - Cloud Sandbox \u2013- Threat IntelligencePortal \u2013 Incident Response \u2013 Threat Hunting \u2013 IOC - Yara - Security Operations Center \u2013 SecurityOperation Center \u2013 Security SOC \u2013 SOC Services - Advanced Threat - Threat Detection - TargetedAttack \u2013 APT \u2013 Anti-APT \u2013 Advanced Protection \u2013 Cyber Security Services \u2013 Cybersecurity Services -Threat Intelligence Platform\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Threatshub.org\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ThreatsHub.org\",\"alternateName\":\"Threatshub.org\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Threatshub_Favicon1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Threatshub_Favicon1.jpg\",\"width\":432,\"height\":435,\"caption\":\"ThreatsHub.org\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/threatshub\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/12e0a8671ff89a863584f193e7062476\",\"name\":\"TH Author\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"TH Author\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News","description":"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News","og_description":"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/","og_site_name":"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News","article_published_time":"2019-04-17T13:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/img.deusm.com\/informationweek\/slideshow-arrow-gray-left.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"TH Author","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@threatshub","twitter_site":"@threatshub","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"TH Author","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/"},"author":{"name":"TH Author","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/12e0a8671ff89a863584f193e7062476"},"headline":"7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program","datePublished":"2019-04-17T13:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/"},"wordCount":347,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/img.deusm.com\/informationweek\/slideshow-arrow-gray-left.png","articleSection":["DarkReading |TI"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/","url":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/","name":"7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/img.deusm.com\/informationweek\/slideshow-arrow-gray-left.png","datePublished":"2019-04-17T13:00:00+00:00","description":"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/img.deusm.com\/informationweek\/slideshow-arrow-gray-left.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/img.deusm.com\/informationweek\/slideshow-arrow-gray-left.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/7-tips-for-an-effective-employee-security-awareness-program\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"7 Tips for an Effective Employee Security Awareness Program"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/","name":"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News","description":"%%focuskw%% Threat Intel \u2013 Threat Intel Services \u2013 CyberIntelligence \u2013 Cyber Threat Intelligence - Threat Intelligence Feeds - Threat Intelligence Reports - CyberSecurity Report \u2013 Cyber Security PDF \u2013 Cybersecurity Trends - Cloud Sandbox \u2013- Threat IntelligencePortal \u2013 Incident Response \u2013 Threat Hunting \u2013 IOC - Yara - Security Operations Center \u2013 SecurityOperation Center \u2013 Security SOC \u2013 SOC Services - Advanced Threat - Threat Detection - TargetedAttack \u2013 APT \u2013 Anti-APT \u2013 Advanced Protection \u2013 Cyber Security Services \u2013 Cybersecurity Services -Threat Intelligence Platform","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Threatshub.org","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"ThreatsHub.org","alternateName":"Threatshub.org","url":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/coredata\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Threatshub_Favicon1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/coredata\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Threatshub_Favicon1.jpg","width":432,"height":435,"caption":"ThreatsHub.org"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/threatshub"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/12e0a8671ff89a863584f193e7062476","name":"TH Author","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"TH Author"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}