Cybersecurity spending is increasing at a rapid rate. Companies will spend significantly more than $100 billion this year trying to protect against existing and emerging threats. However, ignoring security is expensive. The average yearly cost of cyberattacks is in the millions of dollars.
Attacks to Worry About Today
People-based attacks are increasing at an astounding rate. How can a company combat these attacks? Monitoring every employee within an organization can be challenging. Employees who are aware of security concerns and how to repel attacks can help protect the company from harm. Many employers are choosing to make cybersecurity education an essential part of training programs. When doing so, will they see a good return on investment?
Determining the ROI
A person can’t quantitatively calculate the ROI of cybersecurity education. However, they want to ensure they see a good return on investment. To do so, they may look at the cost of cyber incidents and the cost of security measures. Reduced downtime and increased customer retention rates are other elements that might be used to assess the ROI. Some people prefer to use the Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR), while others choose to use the cybersecurity equation for ROI based on the STACHT research.
The Impacts of Cybersecurity Training
While an ROI formula helps determine whether a company is making a wise investment in cybersecurity training, it cannot account for all the impacts of this training. Using the information learned, a person is empowered to make better decisions, and there is no quantitative figure that can be put on this empowerment. Empowerment is one of several intangible variables that cannot be quantified, while post-breach reputation damage is another.
Another reason it is difficult to quantify the impacts of a data breach is that the effects can be felt for years. If an employee fails to protect data due to a lack of awareness of proper procedures, a breach may occur. It could be years before the full costs of the breach are known, as a class action suit takes time to build.
The training provides individuals with skills they lacked. Employers may see the results of the training in better business decisions and improved team collaboration. What they might not see, however, is the improved confidence and happiness of the employee. Satisfied employees are less likely to leave an organization, saving on recruitment and onboarding costs.
The loss of reputation following a data breach can be devastating. Putting a dollar amount on lost partnerships and share price drops may help assess this damage, but it can’t provide the full picture of the harm that has been done. There are too many elements that come into play.
Other elements can easily be quantified. When employees are trained in GDPR and PCI-DSS or other regulations, the company may pay less in fines as it has taken the necessary measures to reduce the risk of an attack. Insurance premiums often decrease when a company invests in security training for all employees, and the company is exposed to fewer threats that have a human element, such as phishing.
Calculating the return on investment of cybersecurity education for all employees can be complicated. However, if a company compares the cost of training to the average cost of a data breach, it quickly sees that the training is a wise investment. Companies spend millions of dollars, on average, to recover from one breach. Training employees may help them prevent multiple violations from occurring. When a company views it in that light, it quickly sees that the training is priceless.
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