Security awareness training works when it helps people make safer decisions in their real jobs—and gives them a clear, safe way to act when something goes wrong. Treat it as a continuing learning program tied to organizational risks, not a once-a-year course measured only by completion.
1. Start with the risks and behaviors you need to change
Choose learning goals from the risks your organization actually faces and the decisions employees need to make. That might mean recognizing an unusual request to share data, verifying a payment change, or reporting a suspicious message. Define what people should do in those situations before choosing course content.
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NIST’s current lifecycle guidance, SP 800-50 Rev. 1, connects cybersecurity and privacy learning with organizational goals, risk management, and behavior change. It was published in September 2024 and supersedes the 2003 edition. NIST describes the aim this way: “The program should encourage behavior change as part of risk management and lead to developing a privacy and security culture in the organization.” This is federal guidance that organizations can customize, not a blanket legal requirement for every private company.
Course completion can show that someone took a course; by itself, it does not show whether they can recognize a risk or respond appropriately. Set observable objectives first, then choose activities and measures that match them.
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2. Make leadership and ownership visible
Give the program an executive sponsor and involve the CISO or security lead in decisions about priorities, reporting, and escalation. Employees need to know who owns the program, where to ask questions, and how to raise an incident. CISA’s guidance for senior leaders advises empowering CISOs and documenting incident-escalation thresholds.
Keep training instructions consistent with the organization’s incident-response procedures. If an employee reports a suspicious message, the route should lead to a monitored channel and the right team—not an unclear handoff or an inbox nobody checks.
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3. Tailor learning to roles and real work
Employees do not all handle the same information, systems, customers, or decisions. Use examples that resemble each group’s work and explain the actions expected of that role. For example, a finance team’s practice can focus on verifying payment changes, while staff who handle customer data can practice recognizing inappropriate requests to share it.
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4. Practice recognition, verification, and reporting
A lecture can introduce a concept, but employees also need opportunities to practice the behavior. CISA recommends realistic phishing simulations modeled on threats an organization may face, along with ongoing threat updates. Its fact sheet for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments recommends frequent, realistic testing; it does not set a universal schedule for every organization.
Use exercises to rehearse what employees should notice, how they can verify a questionable request, and where they should report it. Treat a missed cue as a chance to teach and improve the exercise—not as grounds for public shaming. Adjust the exercise to your audience and procedures so the lesson is useful rather than merely surprising.
5. Make reporting easy, safe, and specific
Tell employees exactly how to report suspicious messages and where to report a mistake, such as clicking a link or sharing information. CISA’s guidance for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments calls for a no-blame reporting culture so employees will speak up even after an inadvertent download or disclosure.
Teach people not to reply to a suspicious message or use its embedded phone number or link to verify a request. Instead, they should contact the supposed sender through a separate, known method—for example, a trusted phone number already on file. A clear reporting channel and a predictable, supportive response make it easier to report promptly.
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6. Pair education with account protections
Training cannot make a weak account-protection setup safe. CISA advises organizations to require multifactor authentication (MFA) where possible, educate employees about using it, and choose the strongest method the organization can support. In its MFA guidance, CISA ranks the listed options for phishing protection in this order:
- Physical security keys.
- Authenticator-app number matching.
- One-time codes.
- Biometrics, usually used alongside another method.
- Codes sent by text or email.
If considering a hardware security key, first confirm compatibility with the organization’s identity provider and plan a supported rollout. A key is an implementation option, not a substitute for an organization-wide MFA plan or a reason to ask employees to buy devices independently.
7. Measure outcomes and refresh the program
Evaluate the program against the objectives set at the start. Use a mix of measures suited to those objectives—for example, whether people use the reporting channel, follow the expected verification process in an exercise, or can explain what to do after a suspected mistake. Review results for gaps, update examples as threats and work practices change, and repeat the cycle.
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NIST SP 800-50 Rev. 1 includes suggested metrics and evaluation methods and describes iterative improvement. No single score establishes that a program has reduced incidents; each measure shows only what it was designed to capture. Use results to decide what learning or process needs attention, rather than treating a score as proof of overall security.
How often should employees get phishing training?
There is no universal interval established by the CISA fact sheet cited here. CISA recommends frequent, realistic practice, but organizations should set a cadence that fits their risks, workforce, and ability to run useful exercises. Provide refreshers when relevant threats or procedures change, and use exercise results to identify when additional practice is needed.
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