The human element is still a crucial component of business cyber defense
India’s cybersecurity agency NCIIPC recently revealed that more than 1,100 phishing domains were detected in just the first half of 2025, underscoring how exposed employees and organisations remain vulnerable to phishing attacks. This finding highlights the urgency for businesses in India strengthen staff cybersecurity awareness, run realistic phishing simulation exercises, and invest in training to better equip their workforce against evolving threats.
Human element is an immensely exploited attack vector, but it is also quite easy to mitigate — with cybersecurity awareness training. For relatively low effort, it can bring a great payoff by re-focusing business security into a prevention-first approach.
ESET’s mission is to provide proactive defense to businesses all around the world, help them minimize the attack surface, prevent breaches, and stop attackers before they can do any harm. That is why ESET has been offering free Cybersecurity Awareness Training for several years, so anyone can learn more about the threats out there.
Human — The most vulnerable security element
According to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, 68% of breaches involved a non-malicious human element, like a person falling victim to a social engineering attack or making an error.
The majority of those attacks started with phishing and pretexting (use of a fabricated story, or pretext, to gain a victim's trust) via email, accounting for 73% of breaches.
Phishing attacks happen fast. The same report shows that the median time to click on a malicious link after the email is opened is 21 seconds, and then it takes only another 28 seconds to enter the data. This means the median time for users to fall for phishing emails is less than a minute.
Smaller businesses lack cyber training
A 2024 survey conducted by the U.K. Department for Science, Innovation & Technology shows that SMBs are less eager to invest in employee training. Less than half conducted awareness training, in comparison with 74% of large businesses.
A key factor in reducing breach costs
While many businesses hesitate to deploy cybersecurity awareness training, it is important to know that training programs can save a lot of money considering that an average breach cost reaches USD 4.88 million. Together with AI, cybersecurity training is the most effective tool for decreasing data breach costs, according to the report.
ESET Cybersecurity Awareness Training
For those looking for a way to proactively prevent their cyber budgets from excessively bloating due to incidents and breaches, check out the ESET Cybersecurity Awareness Training, which offers an engaging, story-driven experience designed to make learning both interactive and impactful.
Users can explore 19 essential cybersecurity topics, such as social engineering, password hygiene, securing remote devices, malware threats, and much more.
It is very simple to use. After registration, users receive a message sending them directly to the landing page, and they get an email with a shareable link for the training. Completing the whole course takes 60 minutes, and users can check what they have learned in the final quiz.
Description: The interface of ESET Cybersecurity Awareness Training
To make this free basic training even more effective, incorporate it into a bigger, complex awareness program for your company. Here are a few tips to follow:
- Draw employees’ attention — When training employees, utilize the multiple entertaining methods and formats of the ESET Cybersecurity Awareness Training to draw their attention.
- Organize phishing simulations — If your company’s resources allow it, test employees’ vigilance with phishing simulations from time to time. It will measure the effectiveness of your cybersecurity awareness program and make employees more cautious.
- Make it a long-term process — Cybersecurity awareness training doesn’t end with one session; it should be a long-term process involving repeated training and phishing simulations that reflect current trends in a current threat landscape. Also, make cybersecurity awareness a part of the company’s culture to avoid a sense that awareness training is just a necessary evil.
- Be positive — Research shows that using fear tactics is not effective for long-term behavioral change and may even backfire, as many employees see this approach as unethical.
Anything is better than nothing
A systematic review of 142 studies found that most papers reported positive effects of training, regardless of the cybersecurity topic or training method.
Cybersecurity training can be a simple way to vastly increase a company’s cyber potential. What’s more, it leads to a proactive posture, preventing threats from compromising businesses in the first place.
So grab this opportunity, and enjoy great results achieved with little effort!