“Cybersecurity is a priority for virtually every organization in the world. Job #1 is engaging your workforce in cyber safety with interesting, relevant content because employees represent the biggest attack surface of all. Aware Force accomplishes that in innovative ways that no other companies can match.”– Richard Warner, Aware Force
Today, cybercrime is the third-biggest economy in the world. Roughly half of all companies have been victims of a cyber event during the past year, and one in four has been hit two times or more.
The problem is especially severe for U.S. small and mid-size businesses. Most can’t afford infrastructure to fend off sophisticated cyber-attacks, are under-insured to cover interruption of their operations, and fail to adequately train employees in cybersecurity.
- Average length of downtime following a cyber-attack: 24 days (Statista)
- Average cost of a data breach in 2024: $9.5 million
- Percentage of cyber-attacks that involve an employee: 91% (IBM)
Georgia-based Aware Force launched in 2016 to help companies, governments, and non-profits engage their employees in cybersecurity by providing topical videos, quizzes, infographics, news updates, and games throughout the year—all branded for each client. That’s important because healthy communication between employees and the I.T. team can dramatically reduce the time it takes to be alerted to a potential breach.
“Cybersecurity has evolved into a barrage of breaking news. Our team knows how to deliver content that employees can understand and use because of our journalism backgrounds,” says Aware Force Founder Richard Warner. “They share the content with their kids and parents and often send unsolicited praise to the I.T. team.”
An employee of a California consumer electronics company received an email claiming to be the CEO, asking for a confidential file. The employee then posted a question to the Aware Force Q&A engine, and the company was able to shut down the Business Email Compromise attack in less than 10 minutes.
Each client’s reader metrics are delivered via a real-time Dashboard. This tool gives I.T. a valuable voice with senior leadership by demonstrating how employees are engaged in cyber. The data can also be extremely helpful during cybersecurity insurance negotiations. Clients send Aware Force cybersecurity content to their employees by email and web twice a month.
“Consistency is the key to a cyber program,” says Warner. “I.T. teams are often extremely busy, so we’ve engineered our service to require only a few minutes of their time each month.” The process is easy and cost-effective.
Aware Force also retains a library of cyber content with a client’s branding available on demand.
What have we learned about communicating effectively with employees?
Here’s the approach Aware Force uses with the cybersecurity content we deliver:
- Be consistent. Create an editorial calendar and stick to it, even if your team is busy.
- Be positive. Even though there are lots of dangers out there, “cyber fatigue” is a danger if everything is an emergency.
- Be creative. Provide interesting content in different formats: video, audio, infographic, interactive quizzes, posters.
- Be available. Employees are a precious resource—if they don’t feel threatened when they reach out with a question or to admit they made a mistake.
Employees are becoming more aware and sophisticated about cybercrime. Using content from Aware Force is helping organizations across North America stay ahead of the risks.
