In the classic Star Wars universe, there are numerous duels and clashes between two groups: the good, light-side Jedi and the evil, dark-side Sith, who always find new, innovative ways to interrupt the Jedi’s plans and infiltrate their territory.
Unfortunately, cybersecurity and risk mitigation aren’t just problems for a galaxy far, far away — and there are very real threat actors, like the Sith, willing to use any means necessary to gain access to your data. Without the Force by its side, what is an organization to do?
Get certified in security, of course! Read on to learn why security certification is an essential tool for any IT team.
Why security is becoming more important
There were more than 1 billion ransomware attacks detected around the world in 2021 and 2022, according to Statista. This figure was a sharp uptick from years before the pandemic, which gave cybercriminals plenty of means, motive, and opportunity to hone their attacks — particularly with millions of people working from home in IT environments that didn’t have security infrastructure to support hybrid work.
Malware instances are also being generated at an alarming rate, with more than 300,000 new instances spawning every day, per Astra. These instances take 49 days to detect on average.
In addition to increasing rapidly, cyberattacks are becoming more complex to navigate, leaving security teams in uncharted waters. When teams can’t identify and dismantle threats before they cause damage, it’s proving costly: the global average cost of a data breach was $4.35 million in 2022, according to IBM. ConnectWise research found this number jumped to $10.10 million for healthcare organizations.
To paraphrase the famous words of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi: In our experience, there’s no such thing as luck, so it’s crucial to proactively mitigate your security risk.
Getting certified in security is a must
A great first step is to get your team certified in security, helping team members develop critical security expertise and skills before they’re needed. Here are five ways certification benefits your organization.
1. Reducing expenses
Bringing your team up to speed on the latest security advancements, best practices, and tools can generate significant savings for your business. After all, the average cost of a data breach is only increasing, particularly for industries that involve sensitive data, and the cost of certification is minimal in comparison. The ROI of investing in an employee’s certification is estimated to be as high as $30,000 per team member, according to Global Knowledge.
2. Improving compliance
Another challenge facing modern security teams is tightening compliance regulations. With no single, comprehensive data privacy compliance law in the United States, teams are left to sort through a tangle of individual regulations enforced at the federal and state levels. Failure to abide by these laws can lead to expensive sanctions from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), state governmental agencies, and other regulatory bodies.
The best way to prepare your team for these complex requirements is through certification, which teaches team members to harden infrastructure, reduce attack surfaces, and ensure proper isolation, segmentation, and access control. When your team abides by compliance best practices, they’ll be ready for new regulations as they arise.
3. Contributing to employee development, engagement, and satisfaction
The benefits of learning and development (L&D) programs for employee engagement, productivity, and retention are well documented. Learning programs are a long-term investment in the knowledge and competencies of your employees, which helps them build the skills needed for the modern IT environment while showing your commitment to their professional development. Those organizations that plan well can maximize their learning program ROI effectively.
In fact, 91% of businesses with L&D programs report an increase in productivity after implementing them. Employee learning programs also encourage employees to stay in their current roles; 70% of employees say they’re at least somewhat likely to leave their jobs in favor of ones that provide educational opportunities, per this Harris Poll.
Security skills are some of the most in-demand skills on the market, so employees will be particularly enthusiastic about security training being provided to them — boosting your overall employee experience.
4. Maintaining reputation and credibility
There are few assets more valuable to your organization than your reputation and credibility with customers, which can be lost instantly if your data is breached.
Customers, especially those in industries such as healthcare and financial services, want to work with companies that take information security seriously and remain compliant with data protection laws. Security certification can help businesses provide these guarantees to valued customers and partners.
5. Preparing you for the ever-evolving world of security
In the security field, there’s only one constant: change.
New types of cyber-attacks arise practically every day. With new technologies such as AI at organizations’ disposal come new, exploitable security vulnerabilities that your security team won’t have experienced before. Getting certified in security builds a strong foundation of knowledge for your team members, helping them prepare for anything that comes their way.
These are the certifications you’re looking for
Ready to start getting your team certified in security? As a famous force-wielder once said: Do or do not, there is no try!
VMware Learning has just the certification programs for you. Our certifications teach your team to expertly wield VMware Carbon Black Cloud, which provides the endpoint protection you need to disrupt advanced attacks before they compound; VMware NSX Data Center; and more.
- VCTA-Security: Our entry-level security certification builds an IT professional’s foundational knowledge and skills in endpoint security and VMware Carbon Black Cloud. This certification is ideal for entry-level security administrators and technicians.
- VCP-Endpoint and Workload Security: Our next security certification validates a security professional’s skills in endpoint security, workload security, and VMware Carbon Black Cloud. Security administrators, engineers, and consultants are among the job roles that benefit from this certification.
We also offer four badges to build your team members’ expertise in focused security topics.
- VMware Carbon Black Cloud Audit and Remediation Skills: Badge holders certify their ability to build queries for IT hygiene, incident response, and vulnerability assessment to support an organization’s security posture and policies.
- VMware Carbon Black Cloud Enterprise EDR Skills: With this badge, security professionals learn to leverage the Enterprise EDR solution to configure and maintain systems according to organizations’ security posture and policies.
- VMware Carbon Black Cloud Endpoint Standard Skills: By earning this skills badge, your team members can configure and maintain systems using the Endpoint Standard solution.
- VMware NSX-T Data Center Security Skills: Build your team’s knowledge of fundamental network security concepts, intrinsic security with VMware, and NSX Data Center administration and troubleshooting.
Planning ahead
We have even more resources to support your organization in your security learning journey!
Learn about more security certification benefits for organizations and why you should choose VMware for your endpoint security training. You can also find out more about our endpoint and workload security certification and the rest of our certification programs.
