End-user security awareness training teaches the people who use your systems every day, from the front office to the shop floor, how to recognize and report threats like phishing, phone scams, and risky data handling. It works when it’s a recurring program matched to people’s roles, not a once-a-year video that everyone clicks through.
Here’s what a good program includes, who has to receive it, what the strongest programs do differently, and what it costs.
What Is End-User Security Awareness Training?
Security awareness training, also called cybersecurity awareness training or simply security training, is training that educates employees on how to spot and avoid the threats that target them directly. End user cybersecurity awareness training is the same idea with a different label. “End users” simply means everyone with access to your systems or data: staff, managers, executives, and often temps and contractors.
It matters because cybercriminals target people as well as technology, and a single phishing attempt that works can lead to malware infections, ransomware, or stolen credentials. Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report found the human element present in 62% of breaches, up slightly from 60% the year before. That figure is lower for small and medium-sized businesses (45%) and for manufacturing (56%), where the same data shows third-party involvement and vulnerability exploitation weighing heavily. So training is not a cure-all. It’s one part of a broader security program and risk management approach, but it addresses a piece of the risk that technology alone can’t, and it improves your overall security posture.
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What Does Security Awareness Training Include?
A comprehensive security awareness program typically covers:
- Phishing and social engineering attacks. Recognizing suspicious emails, texts, and phone calls, including business email compromise, where an attacker impersonates an executive or vendor to redirect a payment, and knowing what to do next. This includes voice-based attacks, which we cover in our guide to vishing.
- Password security and multi-factor authentication. Strong, unique passwords, why MFA matters, and never sharing codes.
- Safe data handling. How to safeguard sensitive information. That means knowing what counts as sensitive, including customer data and, for defense suppliers, Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), and where it can and can’t go.
- Device security and remote work. Locking screens, updating devices, using personal devices safely, and avoiding risky networks.
- Physical security. Badge use, visitor procedures, and challenging tailgating, which matters just as much on a shop floor as in an office.
- Reporting. Who to tell about suspected phishing attempts and other security incidents, how fast, and why reporting a mistake quickly is always better than hiding it.
- Safe use of AI tools. What can and can’t be pasted into public AI services.
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Who Must Receive Security Awareness Training?
Everyone with access to your systems or data. Beyond that baseline, some roles need targeted training: administrators with elevated access (who need more in-depth training), finance staff who handle payments, executives who are frequent impersonation targets, and anyone who handles regulated data.
Requirements depend on your industry and contracts:
| Framework | Who it applies to | What it expects |
| NIST SP 800-171 / CMMC | Defense contractors handling CUI | Awareness for managers, administrators, and users of organizational systems; role-based training; and insider-threat awareness training |
| DoD CUI training | DoD contractors with CUI requirements | Initial CUI training, then annual refresher training |
| HIPAA | Covered entities and their business associates | A security awareness and training program for all workforce members, including management |
| PCI DSS | Organizations handling cardholder data | A formal security awareness program for all personnel |
Many cyber insurance applications also ask whether you train employees, so even without a regulatory requirement, a program can matter to your coverage. For defense suppliers, we cover how this fits into the broader requirements in our guide to DFARS compliance.
Don’t forget the people without computers. Training programs are usually designed around a desk and an inbox, but plenty of employees handle sensitive information without either. One manufacturer we work with plans to put about 15 shop-floor employees who have no computer or email through in-person CUI training, with signed attendance records, and is moving to a training platform that supports logging group completions manually. A recurring annual reminder for the session and automatic enrollment for new hires are part of the plan. In-person training for those employees isn’t a workaround. It’s the right format.
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How to Build a Security Awareness Training Program
- Set the baseline. Start with written security policies that cover awareness and training, a list of who needs what training, and an honest look at where your people are today.
- Train by role. Give everyone the basics, then add role-specific training for administrators, finance, executives, and anyone who handles sensitive data. A single training module for the whole company misses most of the risk, while short training sessions aimed at specific roles reach the people who need them.
- Run simulations. Send simulated phishing emails, and don’t stop there: include phone-based scenarios and tabletop exercises, where a team talks through how it would handle a realistic incident.
- Measure and adjust. Track results, then change the training based on what you find. Then repeat.
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Security Awareness Training Best Practices
Effective training follows a handful of cybersecurity best practices, and the programs that work share the same habits:
- Keep it short and recurring. Frequent, brief sessions beat one long annual module. In our own reviews of how training is typically delivered, annual, generic modules have produced mixed engagement, and not every phishing simulation tool we’ve evaluated delivered useful results.
- Make it role-specific. In one recent assessment, a client had strong technical controls and ran monthly phishing simulations, but had no role-specific training, no CUI training, and no regular insider-threat training. Phishing simulations are one part of a training program, not the program.
- Train for pressure and workarounds. In the tabletop exercises we run, risky behavior under deadline pressure surfaces repeatedly: downloading files to personal devices or emailing documents outside the company. These are usually people trying to meet a deadline, not people being careless. Good training addresses the workaround, not just the rule.
- Reach everyone, in a format that works. That means in-person sessions for employees without computers, and training materials in the languages your workforce actually speaks. One program we support includes tailored sessions for Spanish-speaking employees.
- Make policies easy to find. Training only works if employees can look up the current policy when they need it.
- Measure reporting, not just clicking. Track how many employees report suspicious messages, not only how many click. A workforce that reports quickly is doing the job.
- Keep it blame-free. Employees who fear punishment hide mistakes, which is the worst outcome. The best exercises are deliberately no-fault.
- Include leadership. Executives are prime targets for impersonation, and they set the tone for everyone else. Effective training starts at the top.
- Set honest expectations. Training and simulations reduce risk, but they can’t eliminate it. We tell clients that plainly, and it’s why training sits alongside technical controls like MFA and monitoring, not in place of them.
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Phishing Awareness Training: Why Simulations Aren’t Enough
Simulated phishing is the most common form of testing, and it’s useful: a phishing test shows who clicks, gives people safe practice, and produces numbers you can track over time. Click rates around 1 to 2% are what we see even at strong-performing clients.
But simulations measure behavior; they don’t build it. A click followed by immediate, no-blame coaching helps employees far more than a click report sent to a manager a week later, and it’s what prepares them for a real phishing attack.
And email isn’t the whole picture. Verizon’s 2026 report found that in phishing simulations, the median click rate for mobile-centric attacks, such as voice and text messaging, was 40% higher than for email. If your program only tests the inbox, it’s skipping the channels where click rates run highest.
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How Often Should Employees Be Trained?
At onboarding, and then on a regular schedule. Most programs run a full session at least annually, supplemented by shorter refreshers and simulations throughout the year. Training should also be repeated after a role change or after an incident.
Some requirements set the schedule for you. DoD contractors with CUI requirements need initial CUI training and then an annual refresher, according to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. The practical way to keep that from slipping is the one the manufacturer above is putting in place: a recurring annual ticket, and automatic enrollment for every new hire.
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How Much Does Security Awareness Training Cost?
Most awareness training platforms charge per user, billed monthly or annually. What you pay depends on the size of the content library, whether simulations and reporting are included, how much tracking and administration is handled for you, and whether training is available in multiple languages or formats.
The cost people tend to miss is administration: someone has to assign training, chase completions, and maintain records, which is real time even with good software. That’s one reason small and mid-sized businesses often fold training into a managed security service, where a provider handles content, scheduling, and completion tracking, and the company’s HR and managers support completion, the split written into one manufacturer’s training policy. When comparing options, ask exactly what’s included and who does the administrative work.
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Where Can You Find Free Security Awareness Training?
Free options exist, and they’re worth using as a supplement. For defense suppliers handling CUI, the government’s Center for Development of Security Excellence (CDSE) offers DoD Mandatory CUI Training as open-access, self-paced eLearning with a certificate of completion.
Free general content can cover the basics. What it usually can’t do is assign training by role, track completions across your whole workforce, run simulations, or produce the records an auditor or insurer may ask to see. That’s the gap a managed program fills.
If your training today is an annual video and nobody can say who completed what, or you’re not sure whether your people could recognize a phone call or text attack, that’s the right place to start, because your people are part of your cyber defense whether or not they’ve been trained. Our team builds managed security services and managed IT services around exactly this kind of practical, measurable approach to cybersecurity awareness.
Learn about RightSentry Shield to see how training, simulations, and monitoring work together.
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FAQs
Is TSA security awareness training the same thing?
No. TSA security awareness training refers to training required by the Transportation Security Administration for certain transportation roles. It’s a different subject from workplace cybersecurity awareness training. For TSA requirements, check with the TSA or the employer that requires it.
Does security awareness training actually reduce risk?
Yes, but it doesn’t eliminate it. Training helps employees recognize and report threats, and it works best alongside technical controls such as multi-factor authentication and monitoring. Verizon’s 2026 report found the human element in 62% of breaches, which is why training matters, and the lower figures for smaller businesses are why it can’t be your only defense.
What’s the difference between security awareness training and compliance training?
Compliance training exists to satisfy a requirement and document completion. Security awareness training aims to change user behavior. The best programs do both: they meet the requirement and make employees better at spotting and reporting threats.
How do you train employees who don’t use computers?
In person. Short group sessions with signed attendance records work well, as long as the training platform or your records allow group completions to be logged. Plan the format around how the employee actually works.
Who is responsible for training employees?
It’s shared. Cybersecurity professionals, whether your internal IT staff, a virtual CISO, or a managed provider, typically own the content and completion tracking. In a training policy we helped one manufacturer adopt, the managed provider owns content and completion tracking, while HR and managers support completion and reinforce expectations. Leadership owns the policy and the expectation that everyone participates, which is what makes security awareness training for employees stick.
