Schneider Electric has announced the launch of a virtual cyber-academy in collaboration with Immersive Labs. The Schneider Electric Cyber Academy will enable businesses to provide cybersecurity training for employees at all levels as well as have monitoring workplace capabilities.
The academy will be delivered through Immersive Labs’ gamified entry-level skills platform. Companies that sign up will gain access to more than 200 labs and be able to monitor improvements in workforce capability.
This aims to help businesses to proactively identify security weaknesses and prepare to deal with attacks. The academy offers bespoke education programs that cover specific areas that are tailored to individual employees with in-built scoring mechanisms to encourage engagement.
A feature of the platform is its ‘battle-test’ scenarios, which enable teams to practise dealing with realistic cyber-incidents. These include scenarios based on cyber-incidents such as Norsk Hydro, forcing teams to apply their skills to real-world challenges.
The academy has been developed in the context of an evolving threat landscape, with many businesses at higher risk of attacks as a result of the shift to home working during COVID-19. Schneider added that the cyber-academy is constantly updated to take into account changes in the methods used by cyber-criminals.
Insufficient security training for staff has been a long-standing problem, with numerous studies indicating the issue has worsened since the move to remote working since the start of COVID-19.
Victor Lough, cybersecurity and advanced digital services business lead at Schneider Electric, commented: “People are the first and most susceptible line of defense against cyber-attacks. It is therefore more important than ever to ensure your teams are trained to deal with the plethora of threats they face.
“The Schneider Electric Cyber Academy enables training to continue remotely and be time-efficient for all involved. With more employees than ever working from home, ensuring security protocols and training are up-to-date must be a key priority not just now, but for the foreseeable future.”