The majority of business leaders are aware of the threat that cyber crime presents to their organisation or department, however, new research highlights a significant increase in successful cyber breaches.

Reported by BBC News, research from insurance firm Hiscox found that 55% of businesses faced a cyber attack in 2019, rising from 40% the prior year. This research follows a survey of more than 5,400 small, medium and large organisations across seven countries, including the United Kingdom.

Intelligencia Training is now calling on business leaders to rethink cyber security and build an effective, organisation-wide cyber awareness culture. The specialist intelligence and cyber security training provider explains that whilst infrastructure plays an important part of protecting yourself from malicious cyber criminals, it is widely reported that over 90% of successful breaches are actually a result of human error.

One key reasoning for this is many organisations have developed a culture in which cyber security awareness has been limited to those within IT and network security roles. The effect of this culture is a lack of understanding and acceptance of responsibility throughout the wider workforce – a vulnerability which cyber criminals will take to their advantage.

In those organisations who recognise the need for educating their workforce, traditional training programmes regularly lead to a skill-fade. Intelligencia explain this is because cyber threats evolve at such a rate that traditional training quickly becomes outdated and without recognition for an increased skill-set, personal buy-in is often minimal.

The Cyber Stars Initiative, the only cyber security awareness programme with an official UK Government regulated qualification attached, presents an opportunity for business leaders to develop a robust cyber awareness culture and minimise their risk, and with average losses soaring to $369,000 (£298,991) – an increase of 61% – it has never been more essential.

Intelligencia Training have successfully delivered the Cyber Stars Initiative to a wide range of high-profile organisations across the public and private sector. The programme has also proved to be a global leader with successful delivery in over 30 countries.

To find out more about the Cyber Stars Initiative, contact Intelligencia Training at 03330 431 440 or info@intelligenciatraining.com.