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Why Penetration Testing and Security Awareness Training Go Great Together
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Why Penetration Testing and Security Awareness Training Go Great Together

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Guðrún Vaka Helgadóttir
5 min read ∙ Apr 1, 2020
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When you do a penetration test to evaluate the safety of a computer system you will find out its strengths and weaknesses. This helps you to complete a risk assessment and looks great on reports for company executives. Penetration testing and security awareness training go great together but what fits even better with the PenTesting is our Human Risk Assessment.

AwareGO's Human Risk Assessment overview of key metrics can also be used as a phishing simulation and for a complete penetration testing and cybersecurity training

Pen testing and the Human Risk Assessment is a great way to find out where a company stands regarding cyber security. For instance, what can be done better and what kind of security measures need to be added to make the system more secure. When the penetration testing is done there are usually three courses of action companies should take:

1) Tech Investment

If the virus protection, firewalls or other security technology is lacking you can recommend investing in a better one.

2) System Update

If a system is out of date you can recommend measures to update it.

3) People Training

If the system is fine but the penetration test still reveals vulnerabilities, then what? This is where security awareness training comes in and should be recommended.

The Human Factor Is Revealed Through Penetration Testing and Human Risk Assessment

Penetration testing is done by ethical hacking. This means that the company owners or IT specialist asks a veritable white hat hacker to hack their systems and see if they can exploit any security flaws. The hacking is done by various means, one of which is by exploiting the employees. This can sometime have a negative effect on morale which is why we recommend using the Human Risk Assessment instead.

Penetration test exploits employees but with good cybersecurity training you can rectify the situation.

When systems are well run, virus protections, firewalls and other security technology up to date and the system administrators well versed in all things security related, it’s not the system that poses the risk but the people using it.

No anti-virus software or security update can protect a system when an employee lets a hacker in through the front door.

Therefore, we often state that us humans can be the weakest link when it comes to cyber security. A well-executed penetration test and a Human Risk Assessment will reveal this risk.

Minimizing the Human Risk

There is a way to turn employees into a human firewall. This is done by assesing employees’ knowledge and behavior, implementing penetration testing and security awareness training. When employees are made aware of the risk and taught the right way to use the system companies will get much better results from their penetration tests. Not only are the results better, the company becomes safer and the risk of a security breach is minimized. This could wind up saving organizations a lot of money.

Woman about to put a fork into toaster, no security awareness here. This is why penetration testing and cybersecurity awareness go well together.

So How Do You Train Employees?

AwareGO has the solution. It’s simple and elegant and is built on methods used by the advertising business to drive the message home. Employees get sent entertaining awareness “ads” for better cyber security behavior. This helps them remember the risks and to respond correctly in dangerous situations.

From clicking bad links to opening infected attachments and falling for phishing scams, AwareGO helps you keep up the security awareness of your employees.

Start Sooner Rather Than Later

Looking at all the measures companies can take to make themselves more cyber secure, it’s easy to see that employee training is the most time consuming. It’s better to start sooner rather than later. AwareGO’s solution saves time by offering micro-learning. No long seminars or lectures that keep people away from their desks.

Man yawns at boring security awareness lecture. Image used to show how penetration testing and security awareness training go together.
Forget boring training lectures. Use micro-learning videos instead.

As more and more people are now forced to work from home the risk increases considerably as home networks are not as well protected as company networks. AwareGO has put together a ready-made Working from Home training program in addition to other curated cybersecurity training programs. This will help companies and industries that now need to digitize faster than expected to survive global economic challenges.

Offer A Solution with the Penetration Testing Results

Penetration testing and security awareness companies should absolutely think about offering a more comprehensive solution, looping in the human factor and start “upgrading” humans as well as systems. AwareGO has a solution for that as well. We encourage penetration testers to join our Partner Program and offer people training as a part of the penetration testing results.

  • Offer penetration testing and security awareness training to your existing customers and create a new revenue stream
  • No set up fees. No required revenue targets.
  • Dedicated partner team to support sales, marketing initiatives and proof of concepts
AwareGO human risk assessment and phishing simulation report shown on computer screen. This fits well with penetration testing and cybersecurity training

It All Comes Down to the Holy Trinity of Cyber Security:

  • People
  • Processes
  • Technology

Penetration testing and security awareness training go great together. The pen test reveals the vulnerabilities while security awareness training provides part of the medicine. When giving out the results of a penetration test, make sure you have the right remedies to offer along with it.

To get the best results all systems must be up to date and a strong virus protection in place. The same goes for people. They need to be up to date on the latest risks and be empowered to maintain a strong security culture within the company. We can help with that!

Join our partner network

Offer the latest solution for human risk management and highest quality cybersecurity training to your clients.

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Guðrún Vaka Helgadóttir
5 min read ∙ Apr 1, 2020

Become cyber secure

You and your employees are going to love AwareGO. It’s a modern, cloud-based system for managing human risk, from assessment to remediation. We’ve made it super easy — schedule your first assessment or training in minutes.

Get started for free and give it a go right now.

You’ll love the way AwareGO can fit into your existing infrastructure. Our robust APIs, widgets, and content available in SCORM format make sure that the integration is seamless. We also integrate with Active Directory, Google Workspace, and popular tools like Slack and Teams.

Contact us and our experts will recommend the best way to integrate.

Upgrade your cybersecurity business by adding human risk management to your existing portfolio of services. Increase your deal size by leveraging Human Risk Assessment or offering Security Awareness Training to your current customers and creating a new revenue stream.

Contact us to become an AwareGO partner, and we will support you every step of the way.

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