Most organizations treat cybersecurity onboarding like an afterthought – something handed off to new hires with a policy link and a 20-minute video.
Not here.
I flipped the script. I caught them at the door – literally. And I used that moment not just to inform, but to inspire.
If you want security to truly take root, begin where trust is formed: with people. Start early, reinforce often, and shape behaviors through clarity – not fear. That’s how a “security mindset” transforms into a lasting “security culture”
The Missing Link: Trust And Leadership Alignment
For many organizations, the lack of trust in employees, especially new ones, doesn’t come from malice. It comes from misalignment. Leadership often fails to meet new hires where they are, offering cybersecurity training as a detached task rather than a fully integrated cybersecurity experience.
I saw this gap – and closed it.
I made the strategic decision to proactively work with HR, to seamlessly integrate cybersecurity into the employee orientation program. Instead of presenting cyber as a policy burden or making it a “check the box” exercise, we introduced it as part of the company’s mission, embedded in how we work, build, and lead.
Once the introductory collaboration was complete and successful, the effort expanded from one location (HQ) to multiple locations, and a plan was laid to begin to scale globally. A feedback survey was added to measure cultural maturity, and content was refined over time to stay aligned with the threat landscape and employee needs. Using Excel and a platform designed to track behavioral trends and culture scores – similar to those provided by KnowBe4, Elevate Security, or Living Security – we implemented adaptive training modules alongside our threat landscape and employee needs.
We aligned strategically with the parent company’s cybersecurity awareness team and leadership to ensure consistency in tone, messaging, and user experience across the enterprise. Rather than relying on compliance-driven mandated training, we partnered with HR to reserve a specific day of the week for awareness sessions – creating space for cultural maturity to grow organically.
To measure impact, I implemented a dual-metric approach: ongoing phishing simulation results and a gamified employee feedback survey tailored to gauge cultural sentiment and security confidence across the enterprise. As phishing scores improved and awareness conversations increased, the program evolved into a self-sustaining rhythm embraced by the workforce.
A defining moment came when employees – sometime even those skeptical – began seeking me out in the hallway to proudly share how they had spotted and reported a particularly tricky phishing attempt. That shift, from passive recipient to proactive advocate, was the clearest signal that we had met employees where they were and elevated them to where we needed them to be.
Ambassadors, Contractors & Creative Buy-In
Contractors are often overlooked in onboarding, but they carry the same risk. According to the Ponemon Institute and DTEX study, insider threats cost organizations over $15M per year.
As we scaled, we also:
- Integrated contractors into the same onboarding flow to eliminate risk gaps, something many companies overlook/forget.
- Launched a robust Cybersecurity Ambassador Program (aka Security Champions) to drive cultural adoption across departments.
- Strategically, secured a small marketing budget to create engaging, 1-minute “Call to Action” videos all through influence and authentic relationship building.
According to Proofpoint’s “The Human Factor Report”, “Security culture must start at the top. Executive leadership must not only endorse the program but actively participate in shaping the organization’s security narrative.”
This insight proved true in our own approach. To drive top-down engagement, we strategically featured both our Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in a lighthearted internal video campaign. Their visible participation didn’t just endorse the program – it redefined security as a leadership priority. The tone was approachable, and the message was clear: security is serious, but it doesn’t have to be sterile. When leadership leads with authenticity, employees follow with trust.
The result? Employees smiled, it got people laughing, and it got people talking but also understanding. That’s how behavior begins to shift.
The Problem: A Risk Window No One Talks About
The first 90 days of employment are high-risk. New hires don’t know what to click. They don’t know who to trust. And we often overwhelm them with technical do’s and don’ts after access is already granted.
According to the 2023 Verizon DBIR, 74% of breaches involve the human element, including privilege misuse and social engineering – most often occurring when proper guidance wasn’t provided during key transition moments.
If we wait until after someone clicks the wrong link, we’ve already failed.
The Strategy: “Security at the Door”
I reimagined onboarding as the first line of defense. But not through fear, not with red-font warnings, or robotic slide decks. Instead, I made it relatable, human, and tied to the brand.
Program Components
I designed our program using culture-first tactics, approaches that SANS and Forbes found to significantly improve long-term adoption. To enhance employee engagement, we incorporated leading behavior-driven awareness platforms, such as KnowBe4 and NINJIO, to deliver simulation-based phishing scenarios and tailored microlearning. Campaigns like the annual "Hack for the Holidays" and "How to Outsmart Your Smart TV" helped bridge personal and professional contexts, while our “Ask a Hacker” ambassador session made complex topics approachable and content sharable, through interactive storytelling and peer-led Q&A.
These tools didn’t just drive awareness, they delivered results. We saw measurable improvements in simulation scores, stronger self-reported confidence, and the normalization of a security-first mindset that scaled from onboarding to enterprise-wide behavior.
The impact didn’t happen by accident. It was a result of a deliberate, multi-layered strategy designed to meet employees where they are and build long-term muscle across the organization:
- Integrated cybersecurity into the new hire experience
- Aligned to business outcomes
- Gamified & incentivized engagement
- Scaled the program across the enterprise
- Let the data speak
The Secret Sauce: Culture
Security didn’t get buy-in because of a policy or by force. It got buy-in because of the relationships, laughter, trust, and consistent presence across the business.
We walked the halls. We joined cross-functional meetings. We made security approachable, visible, and human. People laughed with us, then started asking us to join kickoff meetings, architecture reviews, and design sprints.
Why? Because culture scales what policy can’t.
Culture turns static rules into dynamic behaviors. It transforms security from a checkbox to a shared value. When employees see cyber leaders not as enforcers but as partners, they engage earlier, ask smarter questions, and flag risk before they escalate.
Cybersecurity is much more about culture than technology. With that in mind, we embedded cybersecurity into the company’s rhythm, so it became part of how we think, how we act, and how we lead.
Secure The Welcome
This wasn’t a one-time initiative, it was a scalable, evolving transformation that redefined how we engaged the workforce on day one.
ISACA’s 2023 report shows that 60% of cyber professionals feel there’s a disconnect between business operations and security goals. We’ve closed that gap, and we’ve turned it into a bridge.
As Harvard Business Review reminds us, the most resilient organizations are those that don’t just respond – they teach early and often.
If you want lasting security, don’t wait until the first click. Start before it.
Start at the welcome.
Start with empathy.
Start with clarity.
Start with leadership.
Because the most impactful cybersecurity upgrade an enterprise can make is how it invests in the people stepping through the door.
Author’s note: Product names are used strictly for educational and illustrative purposes. No endorsement is implied.
