Spear-Phishing and Other Cyber Security Threats Mitigated by Security Awareness Training
(Tampa Bay, FL), Feb 20, 2014--Security Awareness Training firm KnowBe4, LLC, and security expert (former “The World’s Most Wanted Hacker”) Kevin Mitnick have teamed up to release a new version of the Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training 2014™. This brand-new, high quality 30-40 minute web-based interactive training uses case-studies, live demonstration videos and short tests. The training specializes in making sure employees understand the mechanisms of spam, phishing, spear-phishing, malware and social engineering and also includes a new, condensed 15-minute version for executives which specifically focuses on Advanced Persistent Threats in nine languages.
“The vast number of cybersecurity breaches and high profile hacks like Target show security threats are a constant and ever growing menace”, says Stu Sjouwerman (pronounced “shower-man”), KnowBe4 founder and CEO. “IT managers know the weakest link in security is the end user, but not everyone has an effective solution in place to combat threats before they occur. Kevin uses his expertise in social engineering tactics to formulate the most effective ways to help businesses defend themselves from these cyber threats.”
According to Ernst & Young’s 16th Global Information Security Survey 2013 entitled Under Cyber Attack, 82% of organizations reported that vulnerabilities from carelessness or lack of awareness amongst their employees regarding cyber security matters did not improve or increased over the year prior.
As phishing and social engineering tactics become increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect, Sjouwerman and Mitnick emphasize the importance of educating employees to recognize potential network security threats. “Cybercriminals are constantly devising cunning new ways to trick users into clicking their phishing links or downloading infected attachments, and their malware continues to evolve,” warned Sjouwerman. “For example, most people are aware that they should avoid clicking on executable files. However, as Kevin demonstrates in a 2-minute video that is part of our security awareness training, seemingly innocuous documents such as Microsoft Word® files can be infected with malware. That’s why it’s essential for employees to be able to identify and avoid social engineering red flags.”
Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training 2014™ includes all new videos, a new e-learning platform that supports the iPad, and more features for the admin like new summary information about your phishing security tests, Top Culprits, CSV formats for download, bubble graphs with number of clicks per hour, better filters and custom templates you can clone, edit and send to users. Also included are custom landing pages where users can be directed to after clicking on a test link. The training allows IT managers to stay on top of growing security concerns, compliance requirements and ensure users are able to apply this knowledge in their day-to-day job. Each case study ends with its own short multiple choice test, there is a quiz at the end of the training, and trainees get a unique job-aid: Social Engineering Red Flags™ with 22 things to watch out for.
The condensed 15-minute version focuses on Advanced Persistent Threats and is available in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin).
Afterward, regularly-scheduled phishing security tests with customizable emails help keep employees on their toes. Those users who fall for the simulated phishing attacks can receive instant remedial training. An admin console provides before-and-after reports with instant graphs detailing the effectiveness of the training.
To help organizations determine their phishing “attack footprint,” KnowBe4 offers a free email exposure check (EEC), which will reveal all corporate email addresses that are publicly available to cybercriminals. Companies may also request a free phishing security test to determine the percentage of employees who are Phish-prone™, or susceptible to phishing attacks.
To learn more about KnowBe4’s Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training and to access additional cybercrime prevention resources, visit https://www.knowbe4.com.
About KnowBe4
KnowBe4, LLC provides Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training to small and medium-sized enterprises, and recently introduced the brand new KnowBe4 Compliance Manager, SaaS that helps IT administrators and Compliance Officers to automate their audit and compliance workflows, dramatically cutting down audit costs and improving organizational compliance. KnowBe4 services well over 400 customers in a variety of industries, including highly-regulated fields such as banking, finance, healthcare, insurance and high-tech. KnowBe4 expanded with a YoY growth of 427% 2012 – 2013.
About Kevin Mitnick
Kevin Mitnick is an internationally recognized computer security expert with extensive experience in exposing the vulnerabilities of complex operating systems and telecommunications devices. He gained notoriety as a highly skilled hacker who penetrated some of the most resilient computer systems ever developed. Today, Mitnick is renowned as an information security consultant and speaker, and has authored three books, including The New York Times best seller Ghost in the Wires. His latest endeavor is a collaboration with KnowBe4, LLC.
About Stu Sjouwerman
Stu Sjouwerman is the Founder and CEO of KnowBe4, LLC. An IT Security expert with 30+ years in the industry, Sjouwerman (pronounced shower-man) was the co-founder of Inc. 500 company Sunbelt Software, an award-winning anti-malware software developer that was acquired in 2010 by GFI Software, a portfolio company of Insight Partners. Realizing that the end-user is the weak link in IT security and this being seriously neglected, Stu decided to partner with famous former hacker Kevin Mitnick and help IT pros to tackle cybercrime tactics utilizing New School Security Awareness Training combined with regular simulated phishing attacks. Sjouwerman is the author of four IT books, with his latest being Cyberheist: The Biggest Financial Threat Facing American Businesses Since the Meltdown of 2008.
Related Pages: Security Awareness Training
