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Best Security Awareness Training Solutions

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What is Security Awareness Training?

Security Awareness Training is an essential component for organizations of all sizes, aiming to educate employees about potential security threats and best practices to mitigate these risks.

To learn more, read our Security Awareness Training Buyer's Guide (Updated: September 2024).
The top 5 Security Awareness Training solutions are KnowBe4, Proofpoint Email Protection, Sophos Phish Threat, McAfee Institute Certifications & Training and SecurityIQ, as ranked by PeerSpot users in September 2024. Sophos Phish Threat received the highest rating of 10.0 among the leaders. Proofpoint Email Protection is the most popular solution in terms of searches by peers, and KnowBe4 holds the largest mind share of 33.0%.

These initiatives focus on real-world scenarios, helping employees identify phishing attacks, social engineering, and other common security threats. Comprehensive training programs often include interactive modules, regular assessments, and updated content to keep up with emerging threats.

What are the key features?
  • Interactive Modules: Engages users through hands-on exercises that simulate real-world threats.
  • Regular Assessments: Provides quizzes and tests to ensure understanding and retention.
  • Customizable Content: Allows organizations to tailor training modules according to their specific needs.
  • Phishing Simulations: Tests employee readiness by simulating phishing attacks in a controlled environment.
  • Reporting and Analytics: Offers insights into employee performance and areas that need improvement.
What are the benefits or ROI?
  • Reduced Risk: Decreases the likelihood of security incidents caused by human error.
  • Increased Awareness: Educates employees about potential threats and how to respond effectively.
  • Compliance: Helps meet regulatory requirements and standards for employee security training.
  • Cost Savings: Minimizes the financial impact of security breaches through proactive education.
  • Improved Security Culture: Fosters a security-conscious environment within the organization.

Security Awareness Training is widely implemented in industries such as finance, healthcare, and education, where data protection is critical. These sectors often require bespoke training solutions designed to address specific regulatory and operational challenges.

Training programs play a crucial role in equipping staff with the knowledge and skills to navigate the complexities of today's security landscape, thereby safeguarding organizational assets and maintaining operational integrity.

Buyer's Guide
Security Awareness Training
September 2024
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Security Awareness Training solutions mindshare

As of October 2024, in the Security Awareness Training category, the mindshare of Proofpoint Email Protection is 12.2%, down from 14.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KnowBe4 is 33.0%, down from 38.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Terranova Security is 7.8%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Awareness Training

Top Security Awareness Training products

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PeerSpot #1 Ranked
#1 Ranked
KnowBe4
Old school Security Awareness Training is static. It’s a one-time event without follow-up. KnowBe4's Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training starts with a baseline test to show the actual Phish-prone percentage of your users. Then it steps users through effective, interactive, on-demand browser-based training. As step three, you send frequent simulated phishing attacks to your employees to reinforce the training. This last feature, frequent simulated phishing attacks (we recommend at the very least once a month) really creates a change in behavior.
9.5
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4
Reviews
582
Words/ Review
2,071
Total Views
1,496
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PeerSpot Leader
Leader
Proofpoint Email Protection
Organizations use Proofpoint Email Protection for advanced email security, addressing phishing, malware, spam, spoofing, and data loss. It protects inbound and outbound emails, offers encryption, machine learning, sandboxing, and automates threat response. Users appreciate its ease of use, centralized dashboard, powerful URL rewrites, comprehensive malware detection, and seamless Office 365 integration.
8.2
Rating
49
Reviews
484
Words/ Review
17,215
Total Views
563
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Buyer's Guide
Security Awareness Training
September 2024
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Find out what your peers are saying about KnowBe4, Proofpoint, Sophos and others in Security Awareness Training. Updated: September 2024.
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Sophos Phish Threat
Sophos Phish Threat emulates a range of phishing attack types to help you identify areas of weakness in your organization’s security posture, and empower users through engaging training to strengthen your organizations defenses.
10.0
Rating
10
Reviews
705
Words/ Review
354
Total Views
199
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McAfee Institute Certifications & Training
McAfee Institute LLC. is a professional certification body that administers several board certifications for the intelligence and investigative sectors. Topics available for training include cryptocurrency investigations, cyber intelligence, and investigations, counterintelligence, human trafficking, workplace violence, active shooter, organized retail crime, leadership, incident response, digital forensics, fraud, deception detection, and more.
10.0
Rating
1
Review
454
Words/ Review
126
Total Views
16
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SecurityIQ
SecurityIQ identifies your security-naive employees and delivers training targeted to their roles. It self-evolves with employees’ security aptitudes and learning styles, creating personalized learning experiences that motivate behavioral change.
9.0
Rating
1
Review
250
Words/ Review
80
Total Views
49
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CybeReady
Security training should not add work to your security team, and should not burden your employees! CybeReady offers the only fully autonomous training platform that makes Security Awareness Training easy and effective for enterprises. Built by cybersecurity training experts, CybeReady’s autonomous learning platform creates an engaging learning experience for employees and enables organizations to run successful and frictionless training. CybeReady’s solution has proven to change employee behavior towards cyber attacks without burdening InfoSec teams. It has been deployed by hundreds of global enterprises and currently trains millions of employees in 38 languages to avoid cyber attacks. Visit: CybeReady.com
5
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566
Total Views
129
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Terranova Security
With Terranova's comprehensive, end-to-end suite of security awareness solutions at your disposal, you can address threats completely, effectively and in a way that makes the most sense for your organization and its culture.
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Arctic Wolf Managed Security Awareness
Delivered using the cloud-native Arctic Wolf® Platform, Managed Security Awareness® is the only security awareness training solution provided as a concierge service. We help organizations end the cyber risk of social engineering attacks and human error with a full-managed service, removing administrative burden from IT teams. More than training, Managed Security Awareness includes 24/7 account takeover monitoring, integrated phishing simulations, and awareness coaching. Arctic Wolf uses ongoing microlearning techniques and fresh content developed by our in-house team of highly trained security awareness experts to prepare employees to defend themselves and your organization from active cyber threats that cannot be prevented by existing security tools.
1
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Barracuda PhishLine
With PhishLine, you guard against every facet of social-engineering threats with continuous simulation and training for employees. Show them the latest attack techniques, how to recognize the subtle clues and help stop email fraud, data loss, and brand damage. Embed learning into your everyday business processes with customized simulations that test and reinforce good behavior.
1
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Proofpoint Security Awareness Training
Proofpoint Security Awareness Training provides robust phishing simulation and reporting features. Users appreciate its ease of customization and comprehensive training modules. Some feedback suggests an improved analytics dashboard for better data visualization, enhancing the overall experience.
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151
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Mimecast Awareness Training
Mimecast Awareness Training delivers effective online security training to employees in roughly three minutes a month. Each monthly training module is anchored on a short video in the contemporary workplace and driven by characters your employees will recognize all too well.
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136
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Webroot Security Awareness Training
Webroot Security Awareness Training offers comprehensive cybersecurity education that MSPs can deliver to their clients. Training consists of simple, easy-to-run courses and campaigns that minimize user-generated risks and help reduce infection rates, thereby driving down your remediation costs and adding another recurring revenue opportunity. Secondarily, adding Webroot Security Awareness Training to your portfolio will help differentiate your business from the competition through a stronger security offering.
1
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Kaspersky Security Awareness
More than 80% of all cyber-incidents are caused by human error. Enterprises lose millions recovering from staff-related incidents – but traditional training programs usually fail to achieve the desired behavioral changes and motivation. Understanding what lies behind any learning and teaching process helps to build an effective educational program. Our programs not only deliver knowledge, but – more importantly – change habits and form the new behavior patterns that are the real goal of awareness training.
2
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INKY Email Security Platform
INKY's behavioral email security platform catches everything.Like a security coach, it signals suspicious behaviors with interactive banners that guide users to take safe action on any device or email client. IT teams don’t face the burden of filtering every email themselves or maintaining multiple systems. Through powerful technology and intuitive user engagement, INKY keeps bad actors out for good.
376
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98
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SANS Security Awareness
SANS Security Awareness offers a robust suite of computer-based training modules, support materials and online phishing training that is engaging and effective. Host training on any learning management system, and in any language to create a secure culture.
118
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84
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MetaCompliance MetaPhish
MetaCompliance's MetaPhish product helps keep your staff safe from phishing scams through automated training that increases their vigilance. Creating an internal phishing drill for your organisation is easy. But the results in terms of staff becoming aware of email threats is almost immediate.
118
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83
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SafeTitan
SafeTitan adds a human protection layer to TitanHQ’s security offering - 88% of data breaches are caused by human error.
125
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46
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PhishLabs Security Awareness Training
Delivered as a managed service, PhishLabs’ Security Awareness Training ensures organizations make the most of their training investments. PhishLabs’ experts will take your team through a short, focused, and frequent training program that quickly develops and sharpens the skills and behaviors that protect against real-world phishing threats.
77
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52
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ThreatCop
ThreatCop is an AI/ML-based security attack simulator and awareness tool that assesses the real-time threat posture of an organization from the people’s point of view and imparts awareness.
1
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33
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Hoxhunt
Hoxhunt is a comprehensive cybersecurity awareness platform designed to help employees and business owners recognize and safely handle phishing threats. Using simulated phishing attacks, Hoxhunt educates users on email security practices and strategies, enhancing overall security awareness and fulfilling compliance requirements through necessary training and documentation. Users consistently praise Hoxhunt for its interactive and engaging nature, which makes the training process enjoyable and effective. The platform is lauded for its realistic simulation exercises, significantly raising awareness about phishing threats. Additionally, Hoxhunt features an adaptive learning system that personalizes training based on individual user progress and performance, ensuring a tailored educational experience. Hoxhunt’s robust reporting and analytics capabilities provide detailed insights into user behavior, highlighting areas for improvement and helping organizations fortify their cybersecurity measures. The platform has also been instrumental in streamlining processes, improving project management, enhancing team collaboration, and facilitating easier access to critical information.  Its user-friendly interface and seamless integration capabilities with other software have led to increased productivity and more organized work environments, making it a valuable tool for modern enterprises.
63
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33
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Field Effect Cyber Range
Deliver hands-on cyber security training to develop individual skills, rehearse incident response, and train as a team—all from one powerful, customizable platform.
61
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29
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Awareways
In your organization you need a clear and effective program to train your employees. With our program you can benefit from a proven successful program with various solutions embedded, such as short e-learning tools, security culture scan, phishing simulation and communication campaigns. Learn how we can help your organization to reach your security awareness potential.
50
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28
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MetaCompliance MetaLearning
MetaLearning enables businesses to create tailored cyber security and privacy training to develop cyber resilient staff.
38
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30
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SD Elements
Developer-centric threat modeling and secure, compliant software by design – all in one powerful platform. SD Elements significantly decreases the time, effort, and costs required to create and maintain software threat models and secure compliant code.
68
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5
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inspired eLearning Security Awareness Training
From small businesses to global enterprises to public institutions, employees are the most important asset in any organization - but they’re also the weak point in its cybersecurity defenses. We can change that. Our Security Awareness training solutions effect meaningful, sustainable changes in any workforce. With Inspired eLearning, employees aren’t just aware of the dangers presented by an ever-changing threat landscape: they’re empowered to protect your organization from them.
39
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25
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Security Innovation Security Awareness Training
Leveraging a combination of highly interactive scenario-based training modules and reinforcement assets Security Innovation's general security awareness training program drives the behavioral change needed to protect sensitive data every day. Our HTML5 platform enables access from anywhere - phones, tablets, and laptops!
32
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15
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Fortra's Terranova Security
With award-winning learning modules, make sure everyone can detect and avoid cyber threats.Enjoy greater peace of mind by minimizing cyber security weaknesses in your business ecosystem.Use the data-driven Security Culture Index to quickly pinpoint high-risk employees or roles.Effortlessly track your program’s performance and use analytical insights to attain your objectives.Enjoy access to CISO guidance and end-to-end support that’s here for you every step of the way.
28
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17
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MediaPRO General Security Awareness
Equip your employees with the knowledge they need to keep cybercriminals at bay with robust, detailed training content based on established adult learning principles. MediaPRO's General Security Awareness packages deliver the information your employees need for a price that will fit your budget.
27
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15
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Cytelligence Cyber Awareness Training
When a CEO is confronted with a cyber-attack or data breach, they start to worry about their vulnerabilities in the technology they use and forget to look at the very people using those technologies everyday – their employees.
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12
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AIS Employee Awareness
AIS’s roots trace directly to cyber and information security and our well documented contributions are proof. Since 2001, AIS has been working closely with government agencies, academic and business partners to research, develop and deploy cutting-edge security offerings, while also working to influence future security trends that align with emerging technologies and threats. AIS is often referred to as a “niche” security company and for good reason. Our in-depth expertise and novel pursuits routinely aid in the advancement of various cyber and information security disciplines and our customers depend on our expertise to address and overcome many critical security challenges.
21
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7
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VIPRE Security Awareness Training
VIPRE Security Awareness Training (SAT) is an easy to use, cloud-based learning solution that builds practical, cost-effective security awareness for an organization's employees.
16
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6
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AWARE7
We work out your individual IT security strategy together with you. We support you in the start, implementation and further development of IT security strategies as well as their implementation. Our experts include: Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)Offensive Security Certified Professionals (OSCP)ISO 27001 Lead AuditorsIT Risk Manager (TÜV)IT-Grundschutz Practitioner (TÜV)
16
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6
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secunet Security Awareness Training
Circumvention of safety measures due to lack of understanding or motivationDigital carefreeReliance on technical protection mechanismsRejecting ownership of information securityLack of knowledge of the employeesIn order to prevent serious security errors, public authorities and companies need to focus on their employees. Security awareness training provides them with the necessary tools to recognise potentially security-critical situations and to react appropriately. We at secunet are happy to support you in this.
14
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4
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Fortinet Security Awareness and Training
Create a cyber-aware workforce with the Fortinet Security Awareness and Training service. Your employees are high value targets for threat actors. They may be targeted through a phishing email, tricked into a drive-by download online, or unknowingly let a bad actor into a facility. An untrained workforce can introduce serious risk. The Fortinet Security Awareness and Training service is a SaaS-based offering that delivers timely and current awareness training on today’s cybersecurity threats. It helps IT, security, and compliance leaders build a cyber-aware culture where employees recognize and avoid falling victim to cyberattacks. For compliance-sensitive organizations, the service also helps satisfy regulatory or industry compliance training requirements.
6
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Security Awareness Training experts

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Brad Mathis - PeerSpot reviewer
Anuraj Nair - PeerSpot reviewer
Jared Kruger - PeerSpot reviewer
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Faisal Mian - PeerSpot reviewer
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Security Awareness Training Q&As

Read answers to top Security Awareness Training questions. 813,418 professionals have gotten help from our community of experts.
May 30, 2024
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Security Awareness Training FAQ

Why is security awareness training important?

The main purpose of security awareness training is to train employees to identify, report, and block malicious attempts that compromise the security of their organization. An effective security awareness training program helps minimize the risk of monetary, brand reputation, and legal damage by addressing and preventing the cybersecurity mistakes that employees tend to make when using email, browsing the web, or with careless document disposal.

Security awareness training is important for many reasons. Below are several key benefits of security awareness training.

  • Data breach and attack prevention: Security awareness training helps employees to learn about the causes of data breaches and the costly damages they result in. Most data breaches can be prevented with the right knowledge. Proper awareness can also help employees to detect breaches early on, which greatly lessens the severity of cyber-attacks.
  • Compliance: Data breaches can have a harmful impact on businesses from both a reputational and financial standpoint. Businesses must adhere to an ever-growing number of regulations. For businesses that handle personal, sensitive, or classified information, regulatory compliance violations are mandatory. Implementing a security training program will guarantee employees are aware of compliance policies and can understand how to handle sensitive data and information, providing additional security to businesses.
  • Technological defenses education: Technological defenses are a valuable weapon in preventing breaches. Security awareness training provides employees with information on firewalls, security warnings, software updates, and patches.
  • Customer protection: Security awareness training directly benefits consumers, suppliers, and everyone else interlinked within an organization’s network.
    Consumers are increasingly aware of cyberthreats, and as customers, they want to feel protected and secure. A company with security awareness will have a better reputation with consumers. A business that is repeatedly subject to security breaches will lose customers because of negative publicity.
  • Creating a motivated environment: Engaging security awareness training promotes constant vigilance and learning that ensures cyber security remains a relevant and constant topic throughout the entire organization.
  • Prevent downtime and increase productivity: Once a data breach occurs, it takes a significant amount of time to investigate and repair damages. This downtime causes severe disruption to workflows and deadlines. Empowering employees with training on phishing, malware attacks, regulatory compliance, password, and cybersecurity best practices strengthens the business, making it more resilient and productive.

What topics should be covered in security awareness training?

Key topics that should be included in security awareness training include:

  • Phishing: Security awareness training should cover how to detect and report phishing attempts and give examples of phishing attempts that have affected other companies. Training should also include the dangers of interacting with suspicious links or entering personal information on dubious web pages and accepting contacts from suspicious social media accounts.
  • Physical security: Security awareness training should establish among employees the importance of awareness of physical security risks, such as unlocked rooms, unauthorized visitors, or sensitive data that is left exposed.
  • Desktop security: Employees should be instructed to lock or shut off computers at appropriate times and cautioned against plugging unauthorized devices into their computers.
  • Wireless networks: Security awareness training should outline the risks of connecting to unfamiliar wireless networks.
  • Password security: Employees need to be instructed on setting up complex passwords and understand the risks involved in reusing passwords, using easy-to-guess passwords, using passwords for a long period of time, and failing to change default passwords immediately.
  • Malware: Companies should define the different types of malware and the damage they can cause. Employees need to be educated on how to spot malware and what actions to take if they suspect their device has been infected.

What is Security Awareness Training Software?

Security awareness training software allows administrators to create training tutorials with interactive quizzes and knowledge assessments.

In addition, security awareness training software allows administrators to create and schedule simulated attacks on groups of employees or individual employees and monitor their responses to the attacks.

Many awareness training platforms offer IT teams data and analytics that show which users within an organization are at most risk of causing a data breach and provide the tools for administrators to help the users that need it most.

Benefits of Security Awareness Training Software

Effective training platforms can help companies monitor and develop a culture of security and help identify areas for improvement. In addition to training users on security awareness best practices, security awareness training platforms provide analytics that help design training plans for individual users, helping them receive the support and knowledge they need.

Features of Security Awareness Training Software

Security awareness training software will provide tools to help businesses create engaging, hands-on virtual training and demo environments to educate employees about different cyberattacks such as phishing, ransomware, and more.

Security awareness training software will generally have the following features:

  • Flexible, up-to-date security awareness content creation tools.
  • Ability to create security awareness tests.
  • Role-based relevant training creation for individuals or groups.
  • Phishing attack simulators.
  • Analytic tools to view test results and simulated phishing attack responses.
Best Security Awareness Training Solutions
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