I just completed a series on the top ten topics in any security awareness program. One of the key points in planning your security awareness program is first identify the topics that have the greatest value to your organization. By prioritizing and teaching only those topics you can save time and money while having the greatest impact. Far too often I see organizations with little or no planning teaching a hodge podge of topics that end up having little impact and ultimately wasting peoples' time. However, selecting the effective content is only part of the battle. Once you determine your content you then have to plan HOW will you communicate it. Unfortunately we the security community can be terrible communicators, as a result this is where many awareness programs quickly fall apart. If you present the content in a boring or hard to access fashion (especially for the YouTube generation) you program will be a failure. In addition, communication is expotentially more difficult for large or diverse organizations as you have to take into consideration a variety of cultural, national and linguistic differences. In this new series I will share a variety of steps you can to address these issues (and more) and ultimately develop an effective communications plan customized for your organization.
