The proliferation of cyberattacks across the country is prompting businesses to re-examine their cybersecurity learning and development (L&D) initiatives. With India being the second-most targeted nation, the country is projected to lose ₹20,000 crore to cybercrime. For organisations, the impact transcends monetary loss — leaders are held accountable, jobs are at stake, and brand trust and reputation can be damaged beyond repair.
Adding to the complexity, cyberattackers are leveraging AI to create more personalised, sophisticated, and hard-to-detect attack vectors, making timely detection increasingly challenging. Despite these growing threats, 58% of IT and security teams across Asia-Pacific cite a lack of organisational and employee security awareness as one of the key contributors to security breaches. They also emphasise the need to invest in cybersecurity training and skills development across the entire workforce — not just IT teams.
With the surge in attacks, Indian organisations are making concerted efforts to strengthen their cyber resilience through structured L&D. The uptake of cybersecurity courses around responsible AI, ethics & generative AI, and tools like CompTIA security+, reflects the shift.
To truly make employees the first line of defence, cybersecurity awareness and training must be continuous and deeply integrated into the organisational culture. Treating cybersecurity skills as a one-off, check-the-box compliance requirement merely scratches the surface of the problem.
Addressing the issue at its core requires learning to be continuous, contextual, and embedded in the flow of work. This is particularly critical in the AI era, and the data support this urgency. Given the scale and sophistication of attacks, businesses must act now to build a truly resilient organisation.
To effectively foster cyber resilience within a company, it is essential to implement dynamic strategies that engage the entire workforce. Organisations should design their L&D strategies to embed cybersecurity-focused learning into everyday workflows, personalised for each role, function, and level of exposure. This ensures employees are equipped to recognise and respond to both general threats and those specific to their responsibilities.
To equip employees for potential attack patterns, practical, hands-on learning is essential. Hands-on learning gives individuals the space to experiment, iterate, and strengthen their defensive instincts.
Businesses can use skill acceleration platforms to enable real-world, scenario-based learning and keep employees updated as the threat landscape evolves. As AI-driven attacks grow more sophisticated, these platforms help ensure skills remain current and relevant, supporting continuous development across the workforce.
It is equally important to understand each team’s current level of cyber awareness. Skill acceleration platforms support skill mapping, allowing businesses to deliver personalised learning paths rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. This ensures every employee starts from the right point — increasing engagement, knowledge retention, and application.
Cybersecurity learning should also be collaborative and interdisciplinary. Encouraging employees from different teams to learn together fosters a shared sense of responsibility and a unified security culture. When learning is integrated into day-to-day work, it feels less like an additional task and more like a natural habit. This strengthens instinctive secure behavior, builds employee confidence, and supports overall business resilience.
Cyberattacks are evolving fast, and the impact on businesses is only getting deeper. While technology and tools are important, people remain the first line of defence. Strengthening cyber resilience starts with building a culture where learning is ongoing and everyone understands their role in protecting the organisation. When employees are equipped with the right awareness, skills, and confidence, they respond better, adapt quicker, and make safer decisions. Investing in continuous, role-based, and practical learning today sets the foundation for a resilient workforce that can face tomorrow’s threats with clarity.
This article is authored by Vinay Pradhan, country manager & senior director, Udemy.