Building a Security Culture with CIS Controls: Engaging Your Workforce
As digital ecosystems advance and organizational infrastructures become increasingly dependent upon interlinked networks and data-driven systems, prioritizing cybersecurity is more critical than ever.
IBM’s 2021 Cost of a Data Breach Report delineates the economic ramifications of security breaches, identifying the mean financial impact within the United States at approximately $9.05 million, juxtaposed against a global average of $4.24 million. Further compounding the severity of such breaches, the report highlights a latency period averaging 287 days before incident identification and containment is achieved. These figures demonstrate the importance of establishing a strong security culture to foresee potential security incidents and quickly react to potential security incidents.
Incorporating a comprehensive security culture within an organizational framework acts as a catalytic force for bolstering the collective cybersecurity posture. Given that personnel often represent the initial point of contact for cyber incursions, particularly those involving social engineering and phishing, their behavioral responses significantly influence overall security outcomes.
While employees may exhibit confidence in recognizing overtly malicious content, such as phishing emails, threat vectors continue to evolve, rendering static defense mechanisms insufficient.
What is security culture?
Security culture refers to the shared beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors an organization or group encourages around safeguarding information. In today’s hyperconnected digital landscape, protecting a company’s data and digital assets is a critical priority.
With cyber threats growing in both frequency and complexity, every organization is at risk, making it essential to build a security-conscious mindset across all departments, not just within the IT team. That means involving every employee and stakeholder in security efforts.
When a strong security culture is in place, team members understand the importance of cybersecurity and take responsibility for helping protect the organization’s digital infrastructure. Establishing and nurturing this culture is a key element of a company’s broader cybersecurity framework and demands continuous attention, evaluation, and refinement.
How to Cultivate an Information Security Culture
Security culture ensures that security becomes embedded in every part of an organization rather than leaving it to the IT department or managed security specialists. To systematically inculcate a security-centric cultural framework across organizational boundaries, consider operationalizing the following pillars:
1. Making it About Learning
Empirical research from Kaspersky indicates a tendency among 45% of employees to obfuscate security-related mishaps rather than disclose them, an outcome often rooted in a punitive organizational climate. Reframing cybersecurity incidents as opportunities for pedagogical engagement rather than disciplinary actions can foster transparency and preempt risk propagation.
Reinforcement of positive behaviors and risk-aware decision-making through affirmational feedback loops engenders an environment where personnel are psychologically safe to report anomalies.
2. Establish Formal Policies
Institutionalizing governance mechanisms via formal policy documentation ensures clarity of expectations. Such policies must be tailored to the organization’s operational paradigm and aligned with sector-specific regulatory mandates.
Rather than relying on generic templates or protracted consultancy engagements, platforms like Carbide offer automated policy generation attuned to compliance exigencies. Complement policy dissemination with robust tracking infrastructures for acknowledgement, implementation status, and compliance validation.
3. Schedule Training Simulations
Crisis-induced paralysis can be circumvented through periodic enactment of controlled, experiential simulations, ranging from tabletop scenarios to real-time phishing exercises.
These initiatives serve dual purposes: reinforcing protocol familiarity and identifying latent vulnerabilities in procedural workflows. Integration of simulation outputs into performance feedback mechanisms contributes to dynamic threat modeling and adaptive training.
4. Implement Security Frameworks
Standardized cybersecurity frameworks function as scaffolds for holistic risk mitigation. Frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27001, NIST, and cybersecurity for CIS Controls provide a structural foundation for policy development, control implementation, and audit readiness.
The CIS Controls are particularly accessible for cross-functional stakeholders and serve as a gateway to more advanced frameworks.
Framework adherence improves organizational resilience, simplifies third-party risk assessments, and exposes infrastructural deficits that require remediation.
Importance of Security Culture
Making security a top priority for everyone in the organization is the foundation of a security culture that takes a proactive security approach. To lower the risk of security events, you must raise awareness and knowledge of security threats while implementing the right policies, procedures, and training programs. A strong security culture highlights the value of security and motivates people to actively defend themselves, their coworkers, and the entire organization against cybersecurity risks and controls.
There are several key reasons why cultivating a strong security culture is essential:
- It enhances an organization’s ability to detect and respond to potential threats before they can cause harm.
- It encourages employees to take personal responsibility for cybersecurity, empowering them to help safeguard both the company and themselves from external and internal risks.
- It helps protect sensitive company information and assets. A breach involving confidential data or intellectual property can lead to serious financial losses and long-term damage to the organization’s reputation.
- Promoting secure practices, such as using strong passwords and enforcing proper access controls, supports overall data protection efforts.
- It supports compliance with global data security and privacy regulations, many of which mandate or recommend specific measures to ensure secure data handling.
- It can also improve your brand reputation.
Security culture best practices
The following six security culture best practices can help your organization create and sustain a reliable security culture:
- Make security your top priority: Everyone in your organization, from senior management to front-line staff, must place the highest importance on security.
- Employee education programs: These will certainly assist staff members in understanding the value of security and the best practices to adhere to.
- Establish rules and procedures: It is important to adopt well-defined policies and procedures so that everyone in the organization is aware of their obligations regarding security.
- Use technology to improve security: Using multi-factor authentication, encryption, and intrusion detection systems are just a few examples of how technology can be utilized to improve security.
- Continuous adoption: It is imperative to encourage a culture of continuous improvement since security cultures are dynamic and there is a requirement for constant improvement.
2025-Relevant Cybersecurity Trends Reshaping Security Culture
1. AI-Powered Attacks & Deepfakes Are the New Normal
The rise of generative AI has led to highly convincing phishing emails, synthetic voice messages, and deepfake videos that bypass traditional detection. These tools enable attackers to impersonate executives, vendors, or even colleagues with alarming realism. Employees can no longer rely on visual or tonal cues alone.
2. Remote Work Still Expands the Attack Surface in 2025
While hybrid and remote work are now permanent fixtures, many organizations still struggle with secure configurations for home networks, personal devices, and decentralized access. Every endpoint becomes a potential entry point, reinforcing the need for security-first habits across all user locations. A strong security culture ensures that remote teams uphold the same standards as on-site counterparts.
3. The Human Element Remains the #1 Attack Vector
Despite advances in technology, human error continues to dominate breach causation. Social engineering remains highly effective because it targets psychology, not infrastructure. From credential theft to insider threats, cultivating security-minded behavior and personal accountability is the most reliable mitigation strategy.
4. CIS Controls Evolve with New NIST 2.0 + ISO/IEC Updates
Global security frameworks are undergoing critical updates in 2025. The release of NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 and enhancements to ISO/IEC 27001 emphasize adaptability, governance, and continuous improvement — all of which align with the latest version of CIS Controls. Organizations must reassess their compliance strategies and retrain teams to reflect these changes.
5. Shadow IT & Unauthorized Tools Are Rising
The increasing use of unsanctioned SaaS tools and personal apps, often driven by productivity demands, is creating new blind spots for security teams. Employees often bypass official channels out of convenience, exposing data to unknown risks. A well-ingrained security culture educates staff on the dangers of shadow IT and promotes transparency without discouraging innovation.
6. Behavior Over Awareness: The 2025 Shift in Training
Security awareness is no longer enough. In 2025, the focus has shifted toward behavior-based training, emphasizing what employees do in real-world scenarios rather than what they know. Phishing simulations, gamified learning, and real-time nudges are now essential tools for shaping secure habits. The goal is to create “security reflexes” that activate instinctively in high-pressure moments.
7. Zero Trust Isn’t a Trend – It’s the Foundation
Zero Trust architecture, once seen as cutting-edge, is now the expected standard. Trust must be continuously verified, for users, devices, and workloads. This approach aligns directly with a security culture that prioritizes skepticism, validation, and contextual decision-making. Embedding Zero Trust principles across teams reinforces the cultural mindset that “trust is earned, not assumed.”
To learn more about how to establish a security culture in your company by deploying some of the latest cybersecurity training techniques, connect with the experts at Cybershield CSC. As third-party security providers, we help you incorporate security culture into your organization.