Software Security Training

Security Innovation Introduces First-of-Its-Kind Skills Assessment

Wilmington, NC (USA), May 2024 - Security Innovation, a leader in software security assessment and training, has added new skills assessments to its Base Camp training platform for software security training. Skills assessments are an important aspect of cybersecurity training that provide managers with an understanding of the capabilities of learners and how well the organization's training programs are working. The new assessments will help companies increase the effectiveness and relevance of their training, while eliminating unnecessary training for skilled employees.

This latest offering, the first of its kind for assessing security skill levels of software teams, adds to Security Innovation's holistic learn-practice-master training model comprising courses, labs, and cyber ranges. The skills assessments provide knowledge exams and hands-on skills verification to help organizations manage capabilities and address skills gaps efficiently. The assessments are customized for the different roles in software creation and development across DevSecOps. Supplemental assessments are also available for select InfoSec work roles.

A 2023 report from Security Innovation and the Ponemon Institute found that 53% of companies now measure learning gains and knowledge retention as part of their cybersecurity training benchmarks, with results being reported to C-level executives. To help organizations determine the right level of training for each team member, Base Camp's Skills Assessment tests the knowledge level of employees before they dedicate time to training and enables them to opt out based on their competency level in a particular skill.
This saves time and money, boosts learner satisfaction, and optimizes productivity. It also provides managers with the insights they need to create specific learning paths that better address skills gaps found in their teams.

The offering also contains control and customization for security training administrators. To help them conduct assessments and trainings more easily, Security Innovation is also rolling out several features that enable administrators to establish programs that analyze the performance of learners including

  • question banks that organize and efficiently create sets of customized questions according to course content
  • pathways and path ordering that create templated sets of learning activities including courses, labs, and cyber ranges to customize learning journeys that can be updated as learning content changes. Administrators can also configure training paths requiring that learners take courses in a designated order.
  • user profiles that save information about each user to understand their role in the organization. Once profiles are created, they can be assigned to specific groups, departments, roles, or other custom information about the user.
  • auto enrollment that sets rules to automatically enroll specific user profiles into specific journeys to reduce administrative time and mistakes
  • nudges and notifications that automate and send emails to users to encourage enrollment in and completion of training and their performance
  • reporting - a function to develop customized reports based on user profiles; This enables administrators to see how different organizational units are performing.

"Training programs are most effective when they are customized for the capabilities and skill level of each learner and provide insights into how they are progressing," said Jose Lazu, Senior Product Manager at Security Innovation. "With Skills Assessment, managers can determine the level and type of training each learner needs while also analyzing results and modifying training to keep up with the evolving needs of DevOps teams."