- 90% of cyberattacks are caused by human error or oversight, with non-technical staff the top target for cybercriminals, from clicking phishing links to using weak passwords.
- Employee cybersecurity training remains the most critical way to mitigate risk: KPMG and Founderz, in collaboration with Microsoft, are responding with an online program to train non-technical teams in cybersecurity and help protect their organizations.
- The NIS2 Directive holds executives to a higher standard: training employees in cybersecurity is now a necessity, not just an obligation.
KPMG and Founderz have joined forces at a pivotal moment for corporate cybersecurity, with the goal of training non-technical professionals in an area that has become critical with the new NIS2 Directive taking effect: cybersecurity. This legislation places greater cybersecurity responsibility on companies in essential and strategic sectors, making it more important than ever to have teams prepared for the growing risk of cyberattacks.
A key program to get ahead of cyberattacks and avoid costly incidents
The first step in this alliance between KPMG and Founderz is the launch of a short course, developed in collaboration with Microsoft and focused on cybersecurity, designed specifically for non-technical teams. The training is built to reduce the risks tied to human error, which accounts for 90% of cyberattacks, an especially pressing issue in the new era of AI, which brings threats companies haven’t faced before.
In 2023, more than 91.8% of companies in Spain experienced some form of cyberattack, with an average cost of 105,655 euros per incident. This program is designed to minimize these risks by giving employees the tools they need to identify and avoid common threats such as phishing and ransomware, two of the most frequent types of attacks.
With this alliance, KPMG and Founderz aim to get ahead of current and future challenges, helping companies protect themselves against cyberattacks that grow more frequent and more costly every year.
In the words of Javier Aznar, Partner for Technology Risk and Cybersecurity at KPMG and a representative of the program’s design and content team: “This alliance with Founderz and Microsoft lets us close the existing gap in cybersecurity training and awareness at many organizations. It also gives us a way to offer this training to the young professionals joining our consulting teams, and, finally, it brings artificial intelligence capabilities to bear on cybersecurity.”
For Founderz, founder and CEO Pau García-Milá notes that “with this collaboration alongside KPMG and Microsoft, we are taking a step forward on one of the biggest challenges companies face today: cybersecurity. Our mission at Founderz has always been to train professionals in key areas of technology, and now, with this program, we want to help educate organizations and prepare them for a safer, more resilient digital future, one in which artificial intelligence and cybersecurity go hand in hand.”
The NIS2 Directive demands greater accountability from companies and executives
With the NIS2 Directive set to take effect across Europe, cybersecurity training is no longer just a recommendation: for many companies, it is now a legal requirement.
NIS2 expands the regulatory framework, raising security requirements for sectors that weren’t previously covered, such as digital service providers and a range of strategic industries. Medium-sized and large companies operating in the EU must comply with the rules by October 17, 2024, or face fines of up to 10 million euros or 2% of global annual turnover.
Against this backdrop, the alliance between KPMG and Founderz gives companies a way to meet these requirements and defend against growing cyber threats. It’s built on KPMG’s experience serving more than 300 clients across Spain, spanning the full range of cybersecurity disciplines, including technology risk management, information protection, infrastructure and architecture security, digital identity, operational resilience, and penetration testing, combined with the knowledge, scale, and reach of the Founderz platform.
A cybersecurity program that’s just the start of a strategic partnership between Founderz and KPMG
This course is only the first step in the collaboration between KPMG and Founderz. Both companies plan to expand their training offerings in key areas of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, with programs designed to develop professionals at every level.
As threats continue to evolve, KPMG and Founderz are committed to giving companies the tools and knowledge they need to strengthen their cyber resilience and adapt to a digital environment that keeps changing.
