Free Cybersecurity Training for SMBs

Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) were today granted free access to a virtual security awareness training program.

The program was put together by six-year-old security awareness training company Curricula, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

In a statement released Tuesday, Curricula said: “Our team at Curricula is proud to announce a free security awareness training program designed to help protect organizations with up to 1,000 employees build a security culture at no cost.”

Under the training project, any organization with up to 1,000 or fewer employees can access the resources needed to launch an employee security awareness program. Curricula Free includes cybersecurity training content, an integrated phishing simulator, simple compliance reporting, and an easy-to-use custom content creator.

Curricula said its decision to make the training available at no cost was made in response to the “constantly growing threat of phishing and ransomware attacks targeting businesses of all sizes” coupled with a realization that SMBs could do with some help.

“After working with thousands of businesses, we noticed a big gap in the industry. No one is focused on helping SMBs with security training,” said Curricula’s CEO, Nick Santora. “While there are other free tools available, Curricula’s training has demonstrated to be effective because employees actually resonate with the content and embrace building a security culture together.”

Santora said that with its free training program, Curricula is aiming to eliminate the barrier to entry for every business that wants to proactively improve its cybersecurity posture. 

“Security awareness shouldn’t be a compliance-focused activity, or a reactive, knee-jerk decision caused by a data breach,” he added.

Commenting on the launch of the free training project, Brad Thies, founder and president, BARR Advisory, told Infosecurity Magazine: “Curricula’s decision to create a free security awareness program allows more organizations access to this critical component of an information security program. Security tools, processes, and systems can only go so far if your people aren’t trained. 

“We’re excited to see organizations like Curricula moving the needle toward empowering companies to build cultures with strong security, not just checking the security box.”