You can’t control whether your organization is the target of a cyber-attack, but you can control how prepared you are to handle it. Cybersecurity is essentially contingent on human interactions between the user, the defender, and the attacker. Kaspersky Lab reports that 90% of corporate data breaches are caused by social engineering attacks and employee error, not by issues with cloud or network providers. In turn, cybersecurity virtual simulations prove particularly useful for assessing and improving your cyber strategy, as they utilize human cognition and behavior.
Here’s 5 ways virtual simulations promise to significantly improve your cyber strategy and resilience:
1. Real-world experience without real-world consequences
Having a degree or certification in cybersecurity can leave you fluent in cyber theory and background knowledge, but lacking the tangible skills needed to perform well on the job straightaway. Virtual simulations immerse learners into real-world scenarios to provide hands-on knowledge – 100% risk free. Cybersecurity virtual simulations can test the efficacy of different network policies, tactics, or technologies. Because there are no real-world consequences, employees feel assured in their learning and are not afraid to make the mistakes they may otherwise make in real-time.
2. Efficient feedback
Virtual simulation training has the benefit of providing immediate, applicable feedback. Employees can see where they have gone wrong in real-time, why, and then are given the opportunity to fix and understand their mistakes. While feedback is very valuable for individual learners, it’s also valuable for managers and the company altogether. Managers can identify vulnerabilities in certain skill areas or with certain employees, and address them before it’s too late.
3. More effective learning
Reading text or watching videos as a means of absorbing new information is not the most effective method of learning. Knowledge retention is greatly improved with the interactive, physical learning provided by virtual simulations. Virtual simulation’s hands-on learning allows your employees to grasp both concepts and practices in relation to each other, which is an essential link to make in cybersecurity.
4. Practice incident response plans
Having an incident response plan is a key element of any organization’s cyber strategy, but having a theoretical plan and executing said plan during a cyber-attack are very different. Cyber-attacks can be surprising, chaotic, and stressful – especially considering that every second counts. Virtual simulations allow your employees to practice your organization’s incident response plan, effectively building muscle memory and confidence. This type of practice ensures that during a cyber-attack, in the heat of the moment, your employees don’t drop the ball. Furthermore, virtual simulations can help your organization identify gaps, inconsistencies, and malfunctions in your incident response plan and provides the opportunity to fix them.
5. Improve cybersecurity culture through competition and teamwork
Virtual simulations track individual learner progress and allow employees to compare results to each other. A little bit of friendly competition is proven to motivate employees in the workplace and inspire enhanced outcomes. However, virtual simulations more importantly work to encourage collaboration and teamwork, which greatly improves the cyber team’s ability to execute their incident response plan when necessary. Both the competition and teamwork stimulated by virtual simulations help to build a cybersecurity culture in the workplace, making sure it doesn’t take a back seat.
Overall, virtual simulations provide multiple advantages to both your employees and your organization as a whole – it has proven itself to be one of the most effective training methods of cyber on the market today. What’s more, the points above are not conclusive of all the reasons your company will benefit from virtual simulations. Get in touch with Cybint today to see how we can help your organization experience virtual simulations for cyber.
