Part 1. Cybersecurity Awareness Training for SMEs in the EU:
Why it is needed

Many businesses only think about cybersecurity awareness training after an incident. A scam succeeds, data is lost, or a customer asks uncomfortable questionsm and suddenly training feels urgent. In reality, most EU SMEs already need cybersecurity awareness training, even if nothing bad has happened yet. The challenge is recognising when training moves from “nice to have” to necessary risk control.

For small and medium‑sized businesses in the EU, cyber risk is now a business risk: a single fake invoice, stolen mailbox, or ransomware attack can block cash flow, stop operations for days and damage customer trust. Owners often run on tight margins and limited reserves, so one serious incident can mean layoffs, lost contracts or even closure. At the same time, customers, banks, insurers and large partners increasingly ask small suppliers how they protect data and whether employees receive regular security training.

Most small and medium sized EU businesses share the same three constraints: limited budget, low internal security expertise, and employees who are non‑technical but heavily online. That is exactly why awareness training matters. It is one of the cheapest ways to reduce human‑driven risk (phishing, fraud, mistakes) and one of the easiest “organisational measures” to demonstrate when clients, insurers or regulators ask what you are doing about cybersecurity and data protection. Instead of thinking of awareness as “nice to have IT training”, treat it like basic health and safety: part of how you run the business.

Small and medium businesses are attractive targets for several reasons:

• Limited resources – attackers assume fewer controls and less monitoring
• Time pressure – employees handle many roles and act quickly
• Trust-based processes – approvals, payments, and data sharing are often informal
• High impact of small mistakes – one error can affect the whole business

Attackers don’t need to break in if they can simply "manipulate someone who works for you to open the door". In the EU, the impact goes beyond financial loss. Data incidents can trigger GDPR obligations, customer notifications, and loss of trust that is hard to rebuild.

People are a major entry point in cyberattacks because many common attacks still rely on someone clicking, trusting, approving, or ignoring something at the wrong moment, especially in SMEs where phishing, fraud and misconfigurations are widespread.

1. Most attacks start with people

• Studies repeatedly show that the vast majority of incidents have a human element: recent reports put human involvement in around two‑thirds to over 90% of breaches, through mistakes, trickery or misuse of access.
• Typical examples are clicking on phishing links, opening malicious attachments, reusing passwords, approving fake payments, or mis‑sending sensitive data.

For attackers, it is usually cheaper and easier to manipulate a person than to break modern encryption or find a new software vulnerability.

2. Phishing and social engineering hit SMEs hardest

• ENISA’s work on SMEs shows phishing, ransomware, CEO fraud and stolen laptops as the most common incidents small businesses face.
• All of these rely on people: someone has to trust a fake email, plug in a device, run a file, or follow fraudulent payment instructions for the attack to succeed.

Because SMEs often have weaker processes and less security training, attackers see their staff as an easier way in than trying to breach a large enterprise directly.

3. Technology cannot fully protect against human decisions

• Even with firewalls, antivirus and filtering in place, employees still have to decide every day which email, link, attachment, USB stick, app or request to trust.
• Human factors research shows that stress, time pressure, unclear policies and overconfidence all increase the chance that someone will ignore a warning or take a shortcut.

This is why guidance for SMEs stresses combining basic technical controls with clear rules, simple processes and regular awareness training, instead of relying on tools alone.

4. A few people create most of the risk

• Recent human‑risk studies find that a small minority of employees (for example, around 8%) can be responsible for the majority of risky clicks and incidents.
• At the same time, many employees are overconfident: in surveys, large majorities say they can recognise phishing, while a significant portion admit they have still fallen for scams.

For a business owner, this means that targeted awareness and support for those higher‑risk individuals can dramatically reduce overall exposure.

5. People are also your best defence

• The same ENISA insights that highlight “low awareness of cyber threats” as an SME challenge also recommend empowering employees through training, clear responsibilities and simple reporting channels.
• When staff know how to spot and report suspicious activity, they can block attacks early or limit damage, turning the “weakest link” into an active part of your defence.

This is why any practical cybersecurity strategy for SMEs starts with people: if you change everyday behaviour around email, payments, data handling and reporting, you close off the main entry points attackers use.

A common misconception is that only senior staff are targeted. In reality:

• attackers often start with junior or administrative staff
• shared inboxes and support roles are popular entry points
• anyone with access to email or data is valuable

Attackers work step by step. They don’t need the “perfect” target — just one successful interaction.

1. Attackers go after whoever is easiest

• ENISA’s SME work shows that phishing and social engineering often hit generic mailboxes (info@, sales@) and frontline staff, not just managers, because these inboxes are busy and under pressure.
• Small‑business statistics also show attackers increasingly use broad phishing campaigns and simple credential‑stealing pages, aimed at “whoever bites first”, then move deeper once they have any valid account.

2. “Low‑privilege” accounts can still cause serious damage

• A junior employee’s account can be used to: send believable phishing inside the company, reset other passwords, access shared drives, or trick finance into paying fake invoices.
• Compromised mailboxes of assistants, sales reps, reception, or support staff are commonly used as stepping stones to reach decision makers and sensitive systems.

3. Public exposure makes ordinary staff visible

• Many SMEs list generic contacts and individual emails on websites, social media and directories, which makes these staff obvious first targets for phishing, impostor calls and fake enquiries.
• Attackers mine LinkedIn and company pages to craft believable messages to any employee whose role gives them access to customers, payments, files or systems.

4. Compliance expectations cover everyone, not just IT

• EU guidance for SMEs emphasise that awareness and basic cyber hygiene should reach all staff who use company systems or handle data, not only “critical” or IT roles.
• Regulators and larger customers increasingly view “only training IT or managers” as insufficient, because incidents frequently start with ordinary users.

For SME owners, the takeaway is simple: if someone uses a company email, device or system, they are both a potential entry point and a potential defender, if trained, so your awareness program needs to include everyone, not just “important” staff.

Training fails when it sounds technical or abstract.
Effective training:

• uses everyday language
• focuses on decisions, not systems
• shows what attackers are trying to achieve
• explains consequences in business terms

People don’t need fear — they need clarity.