Evidence of IT Security Training Effectiveness

A.

The effectiveness of the annual security awareness training for all employees can be measured by evaluating how well employees retain and apply the security principles and policies taught during the training.

Out of the given options, the best evidence of the training's effectiveness is option D, surveys completed by randomly selected employees. Here are the reasons:

A. Results of a social engineering test: A social engineering test can demonstrate the effectiveness of the training to a certain extent, but it cannot be the best evidence of the training's effectiveness. Social engineering tests are designed to evaluate the effectiveness of security controls and detect vulnerabilities, but they do not provide a comprehensive evaluation of the employees' knowledge and understanding of the security policies.

B. Interviews with employees: Interviews with employees can provide some insight into how well employees understand and apply the security policies, but they are not the best evidence of the training's effectiveness. Interviews are subjective and may not be representative of the overall understanding and application of security policies by all employees.

C. Decreased calls to the incident response team: Decreased calls to the incident response team may indicate that employees are reporting fewer security incidents, but it does not necessarily mean that the employees are more knowledgeable or adhering to the security policies. Other factors such as improvements in security controls or changes in business processes may also contribute to the decrease in calls.

D. Surveys completed by randomly selected employees: Surveys completed by randomly selected employees can provide the best evidence of the training's effectiveness. Surveys can be designed to assess employees' knowledge, understanding, and application of the security policies taught during the training. Randomly selecting employees ensures that the sample is representative of the entire population of employees, which increases the validity of the results. Surveys can also be conducted periodically to track changes in employees' knowledge and behavior over time.

Therefore, option D, surveys completed by randomly selected employees, is the best evidence of the training's effectiveness as it provides a comprehensive evaluation of the employees' knowledge and understanding of the security policies.