How to Build a Security Culture in Your Organisation?

Security culture is not built through a single campaign. It grows from visible leadership, easy processes and trust. This guide covers the practical steps to build a security culture in your organization.

Picture a new joiner in their first week. A colleague asks them for a customer file to be shared urgently and says there’s no time for the usual approval.

In one organisation, the new joiner is told, “Just send it, everyone does.” They learn that process is optional. In another, they hear, “Let’s route it properly, it only takes a minute.” They learn something very different.

Neither lesson came from a policy document. Both came from culture.

In our last blog, we looked at how to measure security culture. Measurement shows you where you stand. This blog tackles the next question: how do you build a security culture that lasts?

What Does Building a Security Culture Mean, and Why Is It Important?

Security culture refers to the shared values, attitudes, expectations and behaviours that influence how employees protect an organisation's information, systems and assets.

But it goes beyond knowing security rules.

It's about what happens when an employee receives a suspicious email, a manager requests an exception, or someone accidentally shares sensitive information.

Do people stop and verify? Do they feel comfortable questioning an unusual request? Can they report a mistake without worrying about being blamed? The answers reveal more about an organisation's security culture than any policy document.

Building a strong security culture means creating an environment where secure decisions are encouraged, supported and consistently practised, even when no one is watching.

Most organisations invest in security technologies, policies, and awareness training. Yet their effectiveness ultimately depends on how people use them.

MFA offers little protection if employees approve unexpected login requests without checking. Data protection policies cannot prevent data exposure if sensitive files are shared through unapproved channels. Reporting procedures are ineffective if people hesitate to use them.

This highlights a key distinction: having security controls is not the same as having secure behaviours.

A strong security culture bridges this gap by encouraging employees to recognise risks, question unusual requests, follow secure practices, and report concerns.

It also helps organisations understand why risky behaviours occur - whether due to complex processes, competing priorities, or pressure to prioritise speed over security. Building security culture means addressing these underlying factors, not simply reminding people to be careful.

Seven Practical Steps to Build a Strong Security Culture

1. Make security visible at the leadership level

Employees notice what leaders do, especially when their actions differ from what policies say.

Imagine a manager who regularly asks team members to bypass approval procedures because a task is urgent. Even if the organisation promotes security awareness, the message employees receive is clear: security rules can be ignored when business pressure increases.

Now consider a manager who insists on verifying an unusual payment request, even when it causes a short delay.

That decision sends a different message. Security matters, regardless of seniority or deadlines. Leaders can reinforce this culture by following the same security requirements as everyone else, participating in awareness activities and discussing security risks during regular business meetings.

They should also provide the resources, and support teams need to work securely.

The key is consistency. Employees are more likely to take security seriously when leaders practise what they expect from others.

2. Make secure behaviour the easier choice

Why do employees sometimes bypass security procedures even when they understand the risks? Often, the answer is convenience.

If the approved process to complete a task is unnecessarily difficult, employees may choose the faster option to complete their work. More awareness training alone will not solve this problem.

Organisations need to identify where security processes create friction and make legitimate tasks easier to complete securely.

This could mean simplifying approval workflows, providing user-friendly approved tools, introducing single sign-on, or placing security reminders at the moment employees make decisions.

Ask employees where they experience difficulties and involve them in improving those processes.

When the secure option is also the practical option, people are more likely to use it consistently.

3. Move beyond annual awareness training

Completing a cyber security course once a year doesn't necessarily prepare employees to make the right decision six months later, especially today when cyber threats are evolving at a pace like never before.

People need opportunities to recognise risks, practise decisions and reinforce good habits over time. And those learning experiences should reflect the situations they actually encounter.

For example:

• Finance teams need to recognise fraudulent invoices, payment redirection attempts and executive impersonation.
• HR teams need to handle personal information securely and identify suspicious requests for employee records.
• Customer-facing teams need to verify identities before sharing account or customer information.
• IT and development teams need to manage privileged access, credentials and technical security risks.

Instead of relying entirely on generic presentations, organisations should consider using role-specific scenario-based learning, realistic phishing simulations, team discussions and timely security reminders.

A five-minute exercise based on a situation employees might encounter tomorrow can be more useful than an hour of information they struggle to learn and apply.

The goal should not simply be to increase training completion rates. It should be to help people recognise risks and respond appropriately when those risks appear in their work.

4. Create an environment where people feel safe reporting mistakes

Imagine an employee accidentally sends a confidential document to the wrong recipient. They realise the mistake immediately but hesitate to report it. Will their manager be angry? Will they face disciplinary action? Could admitting the mistake affect their performance review?

Every minute spent worrying is time the organisation could have used to contain the exposure.

This is why trust plays such an important role in security culture.

Employees should know exactly how to report suspicious activity, accidental disclosures and other security concerns. Reporting channels should be easy to find and simple to use. More importantly, organisations should respond constructively.

Thank people for reporting concerns, even when an alert turns out to be harmless. Treat genuine mistakes as opportunities to improve processes and learning, while maintaining accountability for deliberate misconduct or repeated disregard of established requirements.

When incidents occur, share relevant lessons without unnecessarily identifying individuals. A strong reporting culture doesn't mean mistakes never happen. It means people speak up early enough for the organisation to respond.

5. Recognise the behaviours you want to see more often

Security discussions often focus on what employees do wrong. Someone clicks a phishing link. A document is shared incorrectly. A security procedure is missed. But how often do organisations recognise the people who make the right decisions?

Consider a customer service representative who refuses to disclose account information until a caller's identity is verified, despite the caller becoming impatient. Or a finance employee who identifies an unusual change in payment details and prevents a potentially fraudulent transfer. These actions deserve recognition.

Organisations can reinforce positive security behaviours through team meetings, internal communications, manager feedback or simple appreciation messages.

Recognition doesn't need to involve expensive rewards or elaborate programmes. What matters is showing employees that secure decisions are valued, particularly when they require additional effort or challenge an urgent request.

People are more likely to repeat behaviours that their organisation consistently recognises and supports.

6. Make security everyone's responsibility

Security teams can establish policies, provide guidance and monitor risks. But they cannot influence every decision made across an organisation.

Consider how different departments contribute to security:

HR shapes onboarding and employee awareness. Procurement evaluates third-party risks. Finance manages payment controls. Operations influence how procedures are followed under pressure. Managers determine which behaviours are encouraged within their teams. Each function has a role in building security culture.

One practical approach is to establish a network of security champions across departments. These individuals don't need to be technical experts. They can help communicate security guidance, answer routine questions, encourage reporting and share feedback about challenges their teams face.

For example, a security champion in the finance department may notice that employees frequently struggle with supplier verification procedures. That feedback can help the security team improve the process before a serious incident occurs.

Security becomes more relevant when guidance comes from people who understand the realities of each team's work.

The objective is not to turn everyone into a security professional, but to make security a shared business responsibility.

7. Measure behaviour, not just participation

How do you know whether your security culture is improving?

A high training completion rate might look encouraging, but it doesn't tell you whether employees are making safer decisions.

Similarly, an increase in reported phishing emails might initially appear concerning. In reality, it could indicate that employees are becoming more alert and comfortable reporting suspicious activity.

This is why organisations need to look beyond individual metrics.

As discussed in our previous blog on measuring security culture, a practical approach is to track indicators across four areas:

• Awareness: Do employees understand the risks relevant to their roles?
• Behaviour: Are they applying secure practices in realistic situations?
• Culture: Do they feel supported when questioning requests or reporting concerns?
• Outcomes: Are security incidents, risky practices and response times improving?

Establish a baseline and monitor trends over time. Compare results across teams or functions where appropriate, while considering the context behind the numbers.

Most importantly, use those findings to make improvements.

If employees consistently struggle with a particular security process, investigate why. If reporting rates are low, find out whether the process is unclear or people are reluctant to speak up. Measurement should help organisations understand and improve behaviour, not simply produce another dashboard.

Final Thoughts

A strong security culture shows up in everyday moments. It is built through small, repeated signals: a leader who follows the process, a control that is easy to use, a mistake that is reported without fear and good behaviour that gets noticed. No single step does it alone. Together, they change what feels normal.

Start small. Reinforce the right behaviours. Remove unnecessary barriers. And keep measuring what changes. 

A strong security culture isn't something an organisation simply tells its employees to adopt. It's something the organisation builds with them, one decision at a time.