A new approach to providing cybersecurity awareness training is launching in San Antonio.
Jungle Disk announced Thursday it has added cybersecurity awareness training to its suite of services designed for small businesses. The employee training and tools will be available to customers as a monthly subscription service, a first in the cybersecurity awareness training industry.
Jungle Disk is a cybersecurity company that caters to small and midsize businesses that spun out of Rackspace in 2016 with an $11 million investment. The company has 27 employees and about 25,000 customers.
Launching these training tools as a recurring Software as a Service or SaaS service works well for small business owners who usually cannot afford expensive one-time training costs or cannot staff a robust information technology (IT) department. Jungle Disk’s cybersecurity awareness training is an automated customized 12-month online curriculum that includes an employee assessment, comprehensive courses, learning modules, and anti-phishing simulations.
Employees learn phishing defense best practices, how to detect a business email compromise and social engineering threats, how to address ransomware, and all about mobile security and password management. The monthly service also allows small businesses to onboard new employees each month as needed and is easily scalable as the business grows, said Bret Piatt, Jungle Disk CEO.
“Our ongoing training includes assessments that look at how folks are learning and then incorporates their re-learning into future modules,” Piatt said. “The monthly subscription service includes a dashboard for management to review employee progress.”
Owners usually find they do not have enough finances to invest in robust security systems. That leads to small business owners who may struggle with securing their online operations, oftentimes with disastrous results.
The U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance found that 60% of small businesses fail to keep their business going within six months after a cybersecurity breach. Cyber adversaries attack small businesses to steal information like customers’ identities, bank records, and even intellectual property.
“Despite the threat of a cyber hack, only about one out of three small businesses have backup software,” Piatt said. “Our market niche is the small business owner who is looking for a one-stop shop to get all the cybersecurity tools and services they need for an affordable monthly service fee.”
The SaaS cybersecurity awareness training service is part of Jungle Disk’s suite of cybersecurity services designed for smaller businesses and includes computer and server backup, email archiving, and password management. Piatt said the training has been designed for companies handling sensitive client or company data, as well as for healthcare small businesses that must meet stringent patient privacy laws. The new coursework will teach employees to keep security in mind so they can act as the first line of defense for their company when it comes to cybersecurity threats.
“We’re using the platform ourselves to ensure all Jungle Disk employees undergo the training,” Piatt said.
Piatt is active in San Antonio as a technology thought leader through his community involvement with the advocacy group TechBloc and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, as the host of his weekly radio show and podcast, Cyber Talk Radio, and as a regular contributing writer for the Forbes Technology Council. The CEO is avid about supporting workforce development and has started a paid summer internship for San Antonio Independent School District students to learn about cybersecurity and marketing during their time with Jungle Disk.
His interest in tracking the latest developments in cyber threats makes him acutely aware of the mounting challenges small business owners face when it comes to securing their data against cyber criminals.
“We saw a need for a SaaS approach to this service,” Piatt said. “No one has combined the tools and training in an affordable platform. It’s vital for small businesses to protect their confidential client information or intellectual property from would-be hackers looking for money in all that data.”
Featured image is of the Jungle Disk team. Courtesy photo.
