How usecure helped Wealth Associates reduce human cyber risk by 91%

At a Glance

Within months, Wealth Associates dramatically improved their cybersecurity posture through a tailored training program. Starting with a gap analysis to customise the learning path based on individual risk profiles, employees soon reported a better understanding of preventing cyber threats.

The firm's management efficiently tracked this progress via the usecure platform. Remarkably, within a year, Wealth Associates slashed their Overall Risk Score by 91%, from 553 to 50, thanks to enhanced employee performance in the training, evidenced by a Course Risk Score drop from 200 to 73.

• Overall human risk score plummeted by 91%, from 553 to 50, in a year.
• Enhanced training performance led to a course risk score reduction from 200 to 73.
• Employee understanding of cybersecurity significantly improved within months.

Wealth Associates was built on the belief that one-size-fits-all solutions aren’t in the best interests of clients seeking financial advice.

Founded by a small group of financial advisors who shared the same philosophy on putting client needs first, more partners have joined the firm over the years. Yet the core mission remains the same: to help their clients manage risks, accumulate wealth and achieve their retirement goals.

The Challenge

Wealth Associates, trusted by clients for financial guidance and security, faces the challenge of protecting client information and assets against cyber threats. A single cyber breach, potentially caused by employee errors like phishing or malware, could significantly damage client trust and financial stability.

Recognising the growing risk of cyber scams, the firm has prioritised comprehensive cybersecurity training for their workforce to safeguard against modern cyber attacks.

“As trust is core to the business of Wealth Associates, there could be little more damaging to the firm than having a cyber breach expose their clients’ personal details, putting their investments and retirement savings at risk.”

Seeing the increased rate at which new cyber scams are launched against companies, Wealth Associates knew that something had to be done before it was too late. Their entire workforce would have to be trained in spotting and reporting suspicious messages and safeguarding their clients’ data from every angle of modern cyber attacks.

The Solution

usecure provides engaging cybersecurity training and reduces human risk

The library of training courses on usecure’s learning solution, uLearn, address all core cybersecurity topics, with additional training courses available for high-risk users such as those who handle payments or have access to financial information.

Courses on core compliance topics such as GDPR in Europe, HIPAA in the United States, and POPIA in South Africa are also available.

While the engaging video-powered courses are created to be easy for users to digest and work through in just 10 to 15 minutes, administration of the training programme is also made easy with the availability of automation functionality.

AutoEnrol, usecure’s automated training tool, allows core cybersecurity courses to be automatically sent out to the entire workforce in just a matter of clicks, with each user’s course schedule personalised to match their individual learning needs.

In addition to training content, the usecure platform provides simulated phishing tools to help test employee response, dark web breach scanning to find exposed user credentials, and the policy management tool uPolicy to keep all policy send-outs and signatures trackable in one place.

All data from the usecure platform is brought together in easily digestible reports that can be scheduled to be delivered on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

The Results

Wealth Associates reduced their human cyber risk by 91%

Only a few months into the training programme, the transformation in employees’ understanding of cyber risks was evident. Users were initially tested on their knowledge of core cybersecurity topics by a gap analysis questionnaire, and then automatically enrolled on customised training programmes that took users’ individual risk profiles into account.

Users soon reported having more knowledge of spotting and preventing a wide array of cyber attacks, and the management team of Wealth Associates could easily keep track of user learning progress through the reports available on the usecure platform.

Within 12 months of starting their training programme, Wealth Associates reduced their Overall Risk Score from 553 to 50 — a reduction of 91%. A large part of this reduction was due to the increasing user performance on their training courses, and the overall user Course Risk Score changed from 200 to 73 in the same period.

Supporting Initiatives

Wealth Associates supported regular training with simulations and policy enforcement

Wealth Associates made use of usecure’s automated training tool AutoEnrol to automatically send out a gap analysis questionnaire and an individualised training programme to its whole workforce.

The courses provide training on all core cybersecurity topics throughout the year, with automatic reminders for users who fall behind on their learning content.

They also deployed realistic phishing simulations using usecure’s phishing tool uPhish, which tested employee response and showed improvements in employees’ ability to tackle risks in their own email inboxes.

The policy management tool uPolicy was also used by Wealth Associates to reinforce company policies to employees, such as the requirement to keep up with regular cybersecurity training and protect client data.

Key Metrics:

• 11 Days: Average time to complete courses from enrolment
• 98%: Course completion rate
• 89%: Average user score after a year of training
• 95%: Policy signature completion

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