Outsourcing Cybersecurity Training: Smart Move or Security Risk?
- LMSPortals
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
In today’s volatile digital environment, where cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, complexity, and cost, the importance of cybersecurity cannot be overstated. Yet while many organizations are investing in infrastructure and software to guard against breaches, one of the most critical layers of defense remains under-addressed: human behavior.
Employees are both a company’s first line of defense and its weakest link. Training them to recognize and respond to cyber threats is no longer a bonus or a best practice—it's an operational necessity. As a result, a growing number of organizations are outsourcing cybersecurity training. But does that solve the problem or simply shift the risk? Let’s explore the nuances.
The High Stakes of Cybersecurity Awareness
People Are the Prime Target
More than 90% of data breaches start with a phishing email. Cybercriminals increasingly exploit human error, not just system vulnerabilities. An employee clicking a malicious link, downloading a rogue attachment, or falling for a spoofed login page can open the door to massive security incidents.
Technical safeguards like encryption, endpoint protection, and network segmentation are essential, but none can compensate for an untrained workforce.
Compliance Isn’t Optional
Regulatory pressure is mounting. Laws such as the GDPR in Europe, HIPAA in the U.S. healthcare sector, and PCI-DSS for payment processors mandate that organizations implement regular cybersecurity training. These are not guidelines—they are legal requirements. Non-compliance can result in steep fines and reputational damage.
Cybersecurity training is not only about protecting data but also about demonstrating due diligence to regulators and stakeholders.
Why Organizations Turn to Outsourcing
1. Access to Up-to-Date Expertise
Cyber threats evolve constantly. Internal teams, especially in small and medium-sized businesses, often struggle to keep pace. Outsourcing gives companies access to specialists whose entire focus is on cybersecurity. These vendors are often on the front lines, tracking new exploits, monitoring attack trends, and updating training accordingly.
2. Greater Scalability and Flexibility
As businesses grow or operate across multiple locations, scaling training efforts becomes more challenging. External providers usually offer cloud-based learning platforms, automated reporting, and modular courses that allow organizations to scale training without expanding internal resources.
Whether you have 50 employees or 5,000, an outsourced program can be launched and managed efficiently.
3. Superior Engagement Tools
Let’s face it: traditional cybersecurity training is often boring. But modern vendors use gamification, storytelling, phishing simulations, and microlearning to engage learners. The more engaging the training, the better the retention. External vendors typically invest more heavily in instructional design and user experience than internal teams can afford.
4. Predictable, Contained Costs
Building an internal training program is resource-intensive. You need experts, content creators, LMS infrastructure, and ongoing support. Outsourcing often involves a fixed monthly or annual cost, which is easier to budget and frequently more affordable.
The Risks Inherent in Outsourcing
1. Security by Proxy? Not Quite
Handing over any piece of your cybersecurity program to an outside vendor inherently introduces third-party risk. To deliver effective training, providers may need access to employee data, internal systems, or detailed information about your infrastructure.
If the vendor suffers a breach, your organization could be directly affected. The outsourcing arrangement must therefore include
2. Generic Content Misses the Mark
Not all training content is created equal. Many vendors offer templated courses that lack specificity. For instance, a retail chain and a financial services firm face very different threats, but may receive the same training materials from a generic provider.
When training lacks relevance, employees disengage. Worse, they may learn the wrong lessons or miss the most pressing threats.
3. Loss of Institutional Knowledge and Control
Over-reliance on external training can lead to internal atrophy. Cybersecurity training should be an ongoing, adaptive effort that reflects the company's evolving priorities and threat landscape. Outsourcing everything can result in a disconnect between actual risks and the content employees see.
Companies may also lose visibility into training outcomes and employee behavior trends unless the vendor offers detailed reporting and analytics.
4. Difficult Vendor Comparison and Quality Assurance
With hundreds of providers in the cybersecurity training market, making the right choice is not simple. There’s no universal benchmark for effectiveness, and vendor marketing often overpromises. Organizations without cybersecurity expertise may find it difficult to evaluate options.
Mistaking a slick interface for effective training can be a costly error.
The Hybrid Model: A Balanced Strategy
Instead of outsourcing entirely or building from scratch, many companies are adopting a hybrid approach that leverages external expertise while preserving internal relevance.
External Providers + Internal Customization
Vendors provide the foundational content and delivery tools, while internal teams customize messaging, examples, and frequency to fit their unique environment.
Expert Support for Internal Champions
Outsourced trainers can also serve as advisors to internal cybersecurity teams, offering expert support while enabling internal staff to take ownership of the training program.
Integrated Feedback and Continuous Improvement
The most effective hybrid models include iterative improvements based on simulation results, phishing tests, and employee feedback. This ensures that training is both dynamic and data-driven.
How to Evaluate Cybersecurity Training Providers
If outsourcing is on the table, companies should scrutinize providers on more than just cost. Key evaluation criteria include:
1. Customization Capabilities
Can they adapt materials to reflect your organization’s structure, industry, and threat profile?
2. Simulation Depth
Do they offer interactive phishing tests, social engineering scenarios, and other hands-on experiences?
3. Measurable Outcomes
Do they provide data on training completion, knowledge retention, employee risk scores, and overall behavioral improvement?
4. Compliance and Certification Alignment
Are their courses aligned with regulations relevant to your industry (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA)?
5. Security and Privacy Standards
What safeguards do they use to protect your organization’s data? Are they compliant with SOC 2, ISO, or other recognized standards?
6. User Engagement Metrics
Do employees actually like the training? High engagement is often a leading indicator of effectiveness.
Cost vs. Consequence: The Bigger Picture
The average data breach in 2024 cost organizations $4.45 million, according to IBM. Many of these breaches began with a single employee mistake.
Training costs—even high-quality outsourced programs—are a small fraction of that number. When you compare the price of prevention to the cost of response and recovery, the ROI of effective training becomes undeniable.
Furthermore, companies that can demonstrate a robust training program are often better positioned in the wake of an incident—regulators, customers, and insurers are more forgiving when evidence of due diligence exists.
Lessons from the Field: Real-World Outcomes
Case Study: A Retail Giant Gets Results
A global retailer with over 10,000 employees partnered with an external training vendor known for gamified learning. The company saw a 72% decrease in phishing click-through rates and a measurable increase in reporting suspicious emails.
Their internal security team also used the training data to identify departments with higher risk, targeting follow-up coaching accordingly.
Case Study: Startup Stumbles with Poor Vendor Fit
A healthcare tech startup chose a budget training provider to satisfy HIPAA training requirements. The content was generic, the delivery platform clunky, and employees tuned out. Six months later, a successful phishing attack led to a major breach and federal investigation.
The provider offered no meaningful analytics or engagement tracking, and the startup lacked the internal capacity to fill the gaps.
Summary: Proceed, But Proceed Strategically
Outsourcing cybersecurity training is not inherently good or bad—it's a tool. Like any tool, its value depends on how it's used.
When done strategically, outsourcing can deliver fresh insights, scale effortlessly, and measurably reduce risk. But when used carelessly, it can introduce new vulnerabilities and create a false sense of security.
Best Practices Moving Forward:
Treat cybersecurity training as a strategic investment, not a checkbox.
Choose vendors based on outcomes, not just aesthetics or pricing.
Blend external expertise with internal ownership for the best of both worlds.
Monitor, measure, and continuously refine the program.
In the end, cybersecurity is a shared responsibility. Outsourcing training can make your organization stronger—if you stay in control of the vision, the goals, and the standards.
Don't just outsource cybersecurity training. Own the strategy.
About LMS Portals
At LMS Portals, we provide our clients and partners with a mobile-responsive, SaaS-based, multi-tenant learning management system that allows you to launch a dedicated training environment (a portal) for each of your unique audiences.
The system includes built-in, SCORM-compliant rapid course development software that provides a drag and drop engine to enable most anyone to build engaging courses quickly and easily.
We also offer a complete library of ready-made courses, covering most every aspect of corporate training and employee development.
If you choose to, you can create Learning Paths to deliver courses in a logical progression and add structure to your training program. The system also supports Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) and provides tools for social learning.
Together, these features make LMS Portals the ideal SaaS-based eLearning platform for our clients and our Reseller partners.
Contact us today to get started or visit our Partner Program pages