News & Updates
Small Talk from the VP: Increasing Security Awareness – One Video at a Time
By Dave Smallen
October 16, 2015
Photo by Marianita Peaslee
More than fifty percent of the employees of the campus have now attended face-to-face information security awareness training sessions. With all the activities going on in the workday it is sometimes hard to find a time that works for everyone. We faced a similar situation with our students. To meet these challenges and adjust for different learning styles, we have licensed a video-based, cybersecurity training program from the SANS Institute called Securing the Human.
The program consists of short videos (each generally around three minutes long) that provide basic information about a variety of useful information security topics. Each video comes with a short online quiz to check understanding of the material. We require our new students to do the program over the summer prior to coming to campus and the last two entering classes have completed the program.
We will now offer a similar alternative for employees instead of, or in addition to, attending face-to-face security awareness training. Included in the topics for employees are things like: Email and Messaging, Passwords, Protecting Confidential and Sensitive Information, Social Engineering, Mobile device security, Browsing, FERPA, Privacy, and Social Networks. The advantage of the video training is that you can do it from any computer, at your own pace and at a time that is convenient for you. You can do all the videos at one sitting, or return at different times. You can rerun the videos as many times as you like to help your understanding. Once you have completed all of the videos and quizzes you will be checked off the list of people needing awareness training. The total time spent on the Securing the Human program will usually be less than forty-five minutes.
This new approach will also allow us to provide timely training for new employees soon after starting their positions. We also hope that this new approach will make it possible for a greater percentage of our campus to obtain this training in a short period of time. Here is a sample of a video on Social Engineering.
If you haven’t yet attended security awareness training you will be receiving an invitation from me to the video training program in the next two months.
