The concept of awareness refers to someone’s perception and knowledge of any given situation. Awareness serves many different purposes and is often applied to multiple use cases.

For example, it’s common for various entities to raise public awareness, usually involving personal safety. The goal of public awareness campaigns is to educate large groups of people about issues that could directly impact them.

Brand awareness is similar but often serves a profit driven agenda. Companies and organizations need to ensure their products or services are recognizable by the public at large. Brand awareness achieves that and is a vital part of marketing that helps one product or service stand out from another.

Then there’s security awareness. In most work environments, security awareness involves employees who are knowledgeable about the various threats to data, systems, and people. When you inspect an email for warning signs of a phishing attack — such as poor grammar, threatening or urgent language, and suspicious links or attachments — you are using security awareness.

While these examples offer ideal definitions of awareness, there’s one key concept that deserves closer attention: Someone being aware of something doesn’t mean they care about that thing.

Thus, true security awareness means that individuals are not only knowledgeable of various threats, but also recognize the importance of preventing those threats from causing harm. It can further be packaged into a few general ideas:

It’s an attitude: The thoughts and beliefs about general security issues and how they impact you and your organization.

It’s a mindset: The ongoing perception of threats and the approach you take to handling daily routines with a security-first viewpoint.

It’s a culture: The shared values, customs, and behaviors that determine the strength of an organization’s resistance to cybercrime.

In fact, culture is the foundation upon which an organization’s success is built. Every individual, through their awareness and their actions, influences the health of that culture in various ways. You can do your part by staying alert, caring enough to understand what’s at stake, and being prepared to address any threats you might encounter.

Article retrieved from Security Awareness and Culture by The Security Awareness Company – KnowBe4, Inc. (2023)