12 Common Data Security Risks Businesses Can Reduce Through Proper Training

You can spend millions on advanced firewall systems, but that may not be enough to protect your business data. Sometimes, even something as small as an employee mistakenly clicking a malicious link in an email can be enough for someone to access all your company data. After all, a DLP certificate does not protect your data from negligent employee behaviour. If you think cyberattack protection is all about installing firewall systems, think again. Proper training of your employees is likely to play just as big a role in ensuring optimal data safety for your business.

Key Takeaways

• Negligent employee actions account for close to 90% of data breach cases.
• Security awareness training for employees is as necessary as efficient firewall systems
• Businesses must understand the need for proper employee training to mitigate data security risks
• DLP certification or a CISSP certificate is not enough to ensure complete data protection. Intelligent employee behaviour is equally important.

In 2025-26, 68-88% of data breaches result, directly or indirectly, from human error. A tired employee, at the end of the day, sitting on a company computer and clicking an unverified link, can cost you more than the kind of money you pay for all the expensive firewall systems. Hence, proper employee training is just as important to ensure that your employees serve as a “human firewall” to empower your data protection systems. This will, in turn, combined with your company’s DLP certificate and CISSP certificate ensure complete data protection.

Common Data Security Risks & How Employee Training Can Protect Your Business from Them

Let’s discuss some of the most common data security risks that result from negligent employee actions.

Phishing

The most common data security risk that can happen due to human error, phishing emails entice your employees with content matching their interests. A simple click later, the hacker has easy access to all your business data. Hence, employees must be trained to recognize phishing emails and avoid clicking on any links that have not been verified by the company’s cybersecurity team (s).

Social Engineering

Scammers and hackers have gotten smart. With access to a little information (sometimes only name & phone number), they can manipulate people into revealing highly sensitive data. Proper training will help your employees recognize such calls and text messages, ensuring that they do not reveal any data without proper authentication. This is why even a lead with a CISSP certificate will prioritize human intuition over software alone

Password Integrity

Employees often get lazy when choosing passwords to manage work accounts. These are the same people who use heavily customized passwords for personal accounts. But when it comes to company profiles, simple and “weak” passwords become the way to go, making their company accounts vulnerable to security breaches. Proper training will encourage your employees to maintain “password hygiene”, ensuring that they use strong passwords that cannot be guessed easily. In addition, employees will also avoid sharing their passwords with others, ensuring that the risks of unauthorized access to company profiles can be mitigated.

Lack of MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication)

Multi-factor authentication can block 99.9% of data compromises, but it must be implemented effectively. Simple measures are just not going to cut it. Through proper training, your employees will understand the importance of MFA and how it works, ensuring that they enable it at every account login.

Timely Reporting of Ransomware

Your employees may not always be equipped to counter or prevent phishing attempts, but they must be trained to identify and report such unusual file activity immediately. Not only will this protect your data from security breaches, but it will also ensure that your IT security team has enough time to manage such risks before they become a major concern.

Remote/WFH Network Security

Employees may lack the robust firewall protection of the office when using home computers. As a result, they must use strong VPNs at home every time they log into their company accounts. Proper training will educate your employees on the dangers of public networks and encourage them to use VPNs obligatorily. These protocols often work in tandem with a company’s DLP certificate strategy to monitor data movement across home networks.

Unsecured Devices

While your employees may need to use multiple devices to perform their tasks, unsecured devices can increase the risks of data breaches. Training them on data security practices will help them ensure that they do not use any device to access company data unless it has been cleared by the IT security team.

Unauthorized Apps

Mobile applications have become the most common way for cybercriminals to transmit computer viruses and steal company data. With proper training, your employees can make informed decisions on which apps to trust and how to ensure that unauthorized applications do not find their way into devices that access your company data.

Negligent Actions

Your employees may not know how data security works, and this lack of knowledge is often the cause of negligent actions that result in lapses in data security. Educating them on the prevalent security protocols will mitigate unintentional activities that could pose a major threat to your company’s data. While an IT manager may hold a CISSP certificate, security is a collective responsibility.

Third-party/Vendor Activity

Your vendors will likely have access to sensitive and critical company data and serve as a potential source of information for cybercriminals. With training, your employees will be able to regulate the data shared with vendors while also ensuring that the vendors are made aware of their responsibilities toward your company’s data protection.

Accidental Leaks

Data security training will help your employees stay vigilant every time they handle company data so that they do not forward sensitive data in an email to the wrong address. Proper training will help them classify data appropriately and ensure that only people with proper authentication can access the data. Implementing a DLP certificate framework helps automate the detection of these potential leaks before they leave the outbox.

AI-powered Data Leaks

With how far AI has come, it is very easy for cybercriminals to use AI tools to create deepfake videos or calls to mimic personnel. Data security training will enable your employees to ensure that they adequately authenticate every person with whom the data is being shared.

Ensure Complete Data Protection Through Employee Training

If you want to ensure complete data security, getting a DLP certificate or a CISSP certificate is important. But it is equally important to ensure that your employees are vigilant and well-trained to stay away from all the ways cybercriminals use to unethically gain data.