Fortinet Launches New Security Awareness and Training Service to Enhance Workforce Cyber Awareness and Mitigate Threats

Fortinet, a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, today announced the availability of its Security Awareness and Training service for companies to further protect their security posture by advancing their employees’ cybersecurity skillsets and knowledge. A Fortinet survey found that 73 percent of organizations had at least one intrusion or breach that can be partially attributed to a gap in cybersecurity skills. This new service benefits any company seeking to reduce threats through employee cybersecurity awareness and training by providing:

• Curriculum from award-winning Fortinet Training Institute: The service is designed by the Fortinet Training Institute which provides cybersecurity certification and training through its various programs. The Fortinet Training Institute has received multiple industry awards for the caliber of its content and programs. Building on the award-winning curriculum, the new service will help organizations educate users globally on the importance of vigilance against increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats and how to recognize and avoid falling victim to cyberattacks.

• Alignment to NIST 800-50 and NIST 800-16 guidelines: The service is aligned to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines - NIST 800-50 and NIST 800-16 - providing training and awareness that is engaging and relevant on topics such as information security, data privacy, physical security, password protection and internet security.

• Intelligence-driven training: Leveraging FortiGuard Labs threat intelligence, the Security Awareness and Training service provides training informed by developments observed across the threat landscape. Coursework incorporates insights to further train employees on today’s threats, preventing them from falling victim to the latest potential cyberattacks.

John Maddison, EVP of Products and CMO at Fortinet

John Maddison, EVP of Products and CMO at Fortinet said, "Fortinet is committed to keeping organizations secure through our industry-leading technology and award-winning training and certifications curriculum. Designed by the Fortinet Training Institute, today we’re introducing the new Security Awareness and Training service, offering any organization the ability to further protect their critical digital assets from cyber threats by building employee cybersecurity awareness. This service uniquely is informed by Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs threat intelligence so that employees are learning and keeping up with the latest evolving cyberattack methods.” 

Employees Increasingly Become Targets for Cyber Attackers
Employees can be a strong line of defense at their organizations, but at the same time if they aren’t aware of the methods threat actors use, they can introduce risks and make their organization vulnerable to attacks. A robust security architecture is only part of a company’s security strategy. Employees also need to be cyber aware to truly protect a company’s valuable digital assets. This is especially critical as Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs observed a 10.7 times increase in ransomware attacks in 2021. Additionally, in a global ransomware survey conducted by Fortinet, 67% of organizations report suffering a ransomware attack. And according to the 2021 Gartner Market Report, “people directly affect security outcomes more than technology, policies or processes". In the last 12 months, the “human element” has been involved in 85% of breaches, and in nearly half of them (36%) phishing was the primary mode of attack.

As threat sophistication only continues to rise, it is especially crucial that employees have a good understanding of cybersecurity best practices. With attack methods changing constantly, employees’ education and awareness of the threat landscape needs to keep up.

Advancing Cybersecurity Skillsets Through Fortinet’s Security Awareness and Training Service 
Fortinet has designed its new service to address security, IT and compliance leaders’ growing concerns around threats and their workforce maintaining proper cyber hygiene. The Fortinet Security Awareness and Training service reduces the likelihood of a breach caused by an employee falling for a phishing email, clicking on a malicious link or becoming the victim of a social engineering attempt. For compliance-sensitive organizations, the service also helps leaders satisfy regulatory or industry compliance training requirements.

Building on its existing awareness training, Fortinet Security Awareness and Training service is very affordable while being simple to create, launch and manage ongoing awareness campaigns across employees and users.