Cybersecurity Training in Norwegian Critical Infrastructure Companies

Abstract

Human preparedness is a critical aspect of critical infrastructure (CI) cybersecurity. Many efforts, including educational curricula and training programs, have been taken at both national and company level to ensure human preparedness in CI incident response. These efforts are usually based on corporate requirements or external guidelines and policies. However, the best practices recommended for these efforts in the literature differ significantly from the measures implemented in CI companies. For this reason, we compared state of practice in cybersecurity awareness and training in selected CI companies with the recommendations in literature, aiming to identify the areas that CI companies need to increase efforts for further security implementations. Specifically, we conducted interviews (n=7) and sent out questionnaires to cybersecurity personnel (n=11) in different CI sectors of Norway. The collected data were analyzed to establish the commonalities, differences, and areas of concern among the interviewees, with respect to certain critical attributes. All Norwegian companies involved in the study offered some type of awareness or training activities to their employees, but these activities varied greatly in the level of maturity. Besides, we noted several limitations in methods and contents. According to many participants, the team skills, communication skills, and managerial skills were often inadequately developed. Additional limitations in delivery methods were noticed, too. Finally, we suggested the solutions from the best practices in the literature, and pointed out the areas where the literature has not provided effective measures.

Building a thematic framework of cybersecurity: a systematic literature review approach

“…, 2023). Regular review and updates of cybersecurity policies and procedures are also crucial for effective cybersecurity compliance in organizations (Chowdhury et al. , 2022).…”

“…The regulatory pressure imposed by government guidelines positively reinforces the relationship between information security management awareness, development and performance in organizations (Kim et al, 2015). Regularly reviewing and updating cybersecurity policies ensures that the policies are aligned with the organization's current structure and needs, and help the organizations stay ahead of emerging threats and prevent security incidents (Chowdhury et al, 2022), thereby positively impacts cybersecurity compliance (Hasan et al, 2021;Chowdhury et al, 2022;Malaivongs et al, 2022). The review and update process can include identifying weaknesses or gaps in the current policies and updating them according to the latest laws and regulations established by the governments.…”

“…In addition, established procedures, rules and governance resources that represent an organization's cyber-capabilities help to decrease the number of information security policy violations (Al-Mukahal and Alshare, 2015) and can positively impact investment in cybersecurity systems (Fernandez De Arroyabe et al, 2023). Regular review and updates of cybersecurity policies and procedures are also crucial for effective cybersecurity compliance in organizations (Chowdhury et al, 2022). Regular review of the effectiveness of training and awareness content is also important to ensure its relevance and impact (Malaivongs et al, 2022).…”

Ranking Threats to Determine the Cost of Protecting Information in a Cybersecurity Environment

“…In general, according to our research agenda, scientists agree in the scientific literature that the modern information space is affected by a wide variety of threats, the implementation of which can lead to extremely negative consequences. Therefore, the study of the impact of threats on the level of security of systems is an urgent and important scientific task, characterized by a high degree of uncertainty and the complexity of rigorous formalization [1][2][3].…”

Cybercrime as a Threat to the National Security of the Baltic States and Ukraine: The Comparative Analysis

“…The performing group maybe, in our opinion, internationally, regionally, and at the national level. The regional level will allow, in case of cyberaggression, to be included in the counteraction in time, the national level will allow on a par with local, national representatives to include regional and international representatives of the said international organization in the investigation [27].…”