The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has identified that there is so much cyber security advice available these days that many people find it hard to know where to start. Some organisations struggle to explain why cyber security is something that all staff should care about. Even larger organisations (with dedicated training resources) find it difficult to explain the technical aspects of cyber security in ways that are relevant to their staff, so that they can help keep their organisations (and themselves) safe from cyber attack.

Equally, many SMEs and charities may not have the resources to put any cyber security policies and training in place at all, leaving staff exposed as their frontline defence against cyber attacks.

For these reasons, the NCSC has produced a new e-learning training package: 'Stay Safe Online: Top Tips for Staff'. It’s totally free, easy-to-use and takes less than 30 minutes to complete. The training introduces why cyber security is important and how attacks happen, and then covers four key areas:

• Defending yourself against phishing
• Using strong passwords
• Securing your devices
• Reporting incidents ('if in doubt, call it out')

The training is primarily aimed at SMEs, charities and the voluntary sector, but can be applied to any organisation, regardless of size or sector. It's been deliberately designed for a non-technical audience (who may have little or no knowledge of cyber security), with tips that complement any existing policies and procedures.

How to use the 'Top Tips for Staff' training

There are two options for using the e-learning package:

1. The first (and easiest) way is to direct your staff to the Stay Safe Online: Top Tips for Staff page, which is hosted on the NCSC website. The package is free to use, and includes a short quiz at the end, with links to further reading. No login is required – just click on the link and start learning.
2. The other way is to integrate the package into your own organisation's training platform. You can do this by downloading the following zip file, which contains the package as a SCORM-compliant file. Once imported into your own eLMS system, you can tweak the package to suit your needs (such as setting a pass rate for the quiz, or creating your own branding) as the content is covered by the Open Government Licence.

NCSC has also summarised the core messages from the training in the following infographic, which you're also free to download, print, and share. For the best quality, please download the PDF version.

For more information visit: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/ncsc-cyber-security-training-for-staff-now-available