UK firms lead on security awareness training

Security certification can save money

UK organisations are spending more money on security training and certification programmes than their US, Canadian and Chinese counterparts, and are reaping the rewards through impressive cost savings, according to research from IT industry body CompTIA.

The survey found that UK businesses spend 18 per cent of their IT budgets on raising the security awareness of staff and see the highest cost savings - £3.3m as opposed to £1.6m in the US.

Reduced server or network downtime because of fewer serious security incidents and improved employee productivity were given as the main reasons why greater investments in security training led to higher cost savings.

But CompTIA's European vice president Matthew Poyiadgi warned that firms must not throw money at training programmes without thinking through a proper strategy first.

"Security training and certification is no different to any other type of training – a targeted approach that takes into account the business objectives, the trainee’s needs and the existing IT capabilities will always give better results than throwing money at a badly thought-out programme," he said.

TNS surveyed IT decision makers in 2024 businesses, including 413 UK companies. It covered six vertical markets manufacturing, finance and insurance, healthcare, government, professional services, and retail.