Page 125 - Cyber Defense eMagazine December 2022 Edition

Humans remain the weakest link

Effective security awareness training should combine e-learning with realistic phishing simulations. It is
important that the training is tailored to the personal learning needs of each individual employee. It should
also allow for metrics-based measurement of their learning progress.

Although IT departments can already intercept many spear phishing emails using the right email security
solutions, humans still remain the biggest vulnerability. Companies should make this clear to their
employees not as something demeaning, but to motivate them to participate in security awareness
training. As well as relying on the IT security technology used by their employers, users must understand
that they too have an essential part to play: They are the most important lever for successful defense,
through their own self-efficacy. Only those organizations that can convince their employees of this will
remain one step ahead of spear phishing attackers in the future.

About the Author

Dr Yvonne Bernard is CTO at Hornetsecurity, the global
Cloud Security, Compliance and Backup Pioneer
founded in Hannover, Germany. With a Ph.D. in
Computer Science, she has a technical background and
is responsible for strategic and technical development in

the areas of Product Management, Software
Development, Innovation & Research, Security Lab and
Cloud Infrastructure. Yvonne can be reached online at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-yvonne-bernard-
b3388a25/ and at our company website
http://www.hornetsecurity.com/

Cyber Defense eMagazine – December 2022 Edition 125
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