Your Employees Aren't Careless—They Just Haven't Been Taught What to Watch For

When a security incident happens, there's a natural tendency to blame the person who clicked the link, opened the attachment, or shared the password.

But here's the thing: most security mistakes aren't caused by careless employees. They're caused by untrained employees.

There's a huge difference.

Good People Make Costly Mistakes

Let me tell you about Sarah.

Sarah had been with her company for 12 years. Office manager. Employee of the year, twice. The kind of person who stayed late to help with projects and remembered everyone's birthday.

One day, Sarah received an email that looked like it came from their CEO asking her to process an urgent wire transfer. The email used the CEO's name, referenced a real project, and stressed confidentiality.

Sarah wanted to help. She processed the transfer. $27,000 went to criminals.

When the company discovered what happened, everyone's first reaction was disbelief. Sarah? The most careful person in the office? How could she fall for this?

But Sarah hadn't been careless. She'd done what she always did—respond quickly to a request from leadership. She'd been a good employee. She just hadn't been taught that requests like this need verification.

The Knowledge Gap

Most employees have never been shown:

• What a suspicious email actually looks like
• How criminals impersonate executives
• Why urgency in a message is a red flag
• When to verify requests (and how to do it)
• That it's okay to question even the CEO

We expect them to know these things instinctively, but why would they? Unless you've been trained on cybersecurity or personally experienced an attack, there's no reason you'd recognize these patterns.

It's like expecting someone to identify a venomous snake if they've never seen one before. They're not being careless if they can't tell the difference—they just haven't learned yet.

The Blame Problem

When businesses respond to security incidents with blame, several bad things happen:

People hide mistakes. If the consequence of reporting a suspicious email is getting yelled at, people stop reporting. They'll try to fix things themselves or hope nobody notices. This makes incidents worse.

The real issue doesn't get fixed. Blaming Sarah doesn't prevent the next attack. It just makes Sarah feel terrible. Meanwhile, the vulnerability that allowed the attack—lack of training—remains unaddressed.

Trust erodes. Employees who see colleagues blamed for honest mistakes become defensive and disengaged. They don't want to be next.

Good people leave. After the incident, Sarah seriously considered quitting. She felt humiliated and unsupported. The company almost lost their best employee.

A Better Approach

What if, instead of blame, businesses responded to security incidents with curiosity?

"How did this happen?" becomes "What was missing that would have prevented this?"

"How could you fall for that?" becomes "How can we make sure everyone knows what to look for?"

"What were you thinking?" becomes "What information would have helped you make a different choice?"

This isn't soft or permissive. It's practical. The goal is preventing the next incident, not punishing the last one.

What Training Actually Does

Good security training doesn't just teach facts. It builds habits and confidence.

It normalizes caution. When everyone learns to verify unusual requests, doing so becomes normal—not paranoid.

It gives permission to pause. Employees learn that taking time to verify is always the right choice, even if it delays a request.

It creates shared vocabulary. Teams can talk about security without confusion. "Can you verify that through a different channel?" becomes a normal request.

It reduces shame. When everyone is learning together, nobody feels singled out. Asking questions becomes safe.

It catches mistakes early. Trained employees are more likely to report suspicious activity and catch incidents before they become disasters.

Training as Investment, Not Punishment

Some businesses only implement training after an incident. It becomes a punishment—"Because you messed up, now everyone has to do this."

That's exactly wrong.

Training should be positioned as an investment in the team. It's not "we don't trust you." It's "we value you enough to give you the tools to succeed."

The framing matters. Employees who see training as supportive engage with it differently than employees who see it as remediation for failure.

Sarah's Story, Part 2

After the incident, Sarah's company made a choice. Instead of disciplining her, they brought in security training for the entire team.

Sarah led the effort. She shared her experience (which took courage) and helped her colleagues understand how convincing the scam had been. Her vulnerability made everyone pay attention.

A year later, another scam email arrived—this time targeting the accounting department. The employee who received it recognized the warning signs, verified before acting, and prevented what would have been an $80,000 loss.

That employee later said, "I thought of Sarah. She showed us what these look like. I wasn't going to be the next one."

That's the power of training without blame.

The Real Question

When the next security incident happens (and it will), how will your organization respond?

Will you look for someone to blame? Or will you look for something to fix?

The choice you make will determine whether your security gets better or whether you're just waiting for the next incident.

Invest in your team

PrymoSec provides security training your employees will actually appreciate. We focus on building knowledge and confidence—not fear and blame.

Your team will learn to: - Recognize threats before they become incidents - Verify requests confidently and professionally - Report concerns without fear of judgment - Protect your business because they understand why it matters

Training is an investment in your people. Make it count.

Start training today →