Training will turn receptionists into security gurus

UK businesses think that their staff could be the weak link in the fight against cybercrime - and a new course has been launched to turn everyone from CEOs to receptionists into security whizzkids.

Security consultancy Commissum and e-learning firm Absolutely Training today announced the launch of a training programme designed to give non-technical staff a firm grounding in avoiding security pitfalls.

The course is designed to "train employees to understand, recognise and deal with" electronic threats.

Users can take three modules - Overview of Information Security, Awareness of Threats and Best Practice - with a multiple choice exam and progress report at the end. The companies estimate that the module should take about 20 minutes and company administrators will be able to review their security pupils' performance.

A rise in security consciousness isn't surprising in light of new figures released by the Department of Trade and Industry today. The research shows that the vast majority of UK employees are misusing their internet and email access - two thirds of larger companies and one-fifth of businesses as a whole have experienced workers breaking the law, spending too much time on the internet, visiting dodgy sites or abusing their email.

For companies that had suffered from an electronic-misuse incident, their favoured way to prevent a repeat of the security breach was better staff training.

Alan Dawson, a security consultant for Commissum, said that non-techie staff are often too willing to help out the hackers. "Social engineers attack people that aren't aware. Receptionists might know that they shouldn't give out information - people in other departments might not, they want to be helpful and do their jobs... People can be the weakest link but it's often because of lack of awareness."

He added that training staff to recognise security threats such as phishing will cut down on the likelihood of blended attacks on businesses succeeding.

For more information, go to www.securitylearning.com.