SANS Security Awareness Training Alternative
Considering a SANS security awareness training alternative? See what SANS offers by role, and when short daily-habit lessons suit everyday staff better.
If you know SANS from its technical courses and you are now looking at a SANS security awareness training alternative, you are probably asking one thing: does everyone in my company need role-based depth, or do they need good daily habits? This page compares the two approaches and says who each suits.
What SANS Security Awareness is
SANS is well known in the security world for training and research. Its Security Awareness group applies that experience to ordinary staff. On its own site it describes:
- An end-user training library. Modules in several formats, organized in tracks, and translated into many languages.
- Phishing simulation. Tests that can be ready-made or customized, with follow-up training for people who need it.
- Culture and knowledge assessments. Baseline checks that show gaps in behavior, mindset and understanding, so a company can track progress.
- Role-based learning. Training for different groups, from everyday users to IT administrators and executives, tied to their responsibilities.
Its site presents the whole as continuous training with ongoing testing, aimed at turning awareness into measurable human risk reduction.
This is a respected, experienced provider. Its strength is depth and a clear path for organizations that want to build a mature awareness program step by step.
Role-based depth versus daily habits
Role-based training answers this question: what does this person need to know because of their job? An administrator who can reset any account needs different training from a receptionist. An executive who can approve large payments needs different training from a driver.
That idea is correct. We agree with it. The same thought sits behind our own guide to cyber security responsibilities by job role.
The question for a buyer is how much structure you can use.
Imagine a regional estate agency with twenty-five people. Agents spend the day on phones and in cars. Two people do the accounts. One manager handles IT with a contractor. A program with baselines, culture surveys and several role paths is a good project for a company with a person to lead it. This agency has no such person.
What this agency needs most is a small set of habits that everyone follows:
- Check any change of bank details by calling a known number.
- Use a different password for each account and turn on two-step sign-in.
- Never read out a code that arrives by text.
- Tell someone straight away after a mistake.
These habits protect the agency better than a large library that nobody has time to finish. Once they stick, the agency can add depth for the accounts team, who handle payments and are targeted for them.
Daily habits in five minutes
DefSafe is built around that idea. Each lesson takes about five minutes and teaches a single habit in plain words, with an example from daily life and a few questions. People take lessons on their own phone, so agents can learn between viewings.
Lessons are grouped by situation: accounts, scams, devices, sensitive information, money, family and incidents. A separate group covers workplace roles, so a manager, a helpdesk worker and a finance clerk each get the part that matters to them.
The manager's track, "Managers and Executives", has lessons on making cyber safety part of daily work, setting rules people can follow, making it safe to report mistakes, identifying the systems and information that matter most, and preparing executives for targeted attacks and incidents. These fit a small company's owner without any extra program around them.
Side by side
| SANS Security Awareness | DefSafe | |
|---|---|---|
| Main idea | A structured program with assessments and role paths | Short lessons that teach one habit each |
| Typical buyer | Organization building or growing an awareness program | Owner, manager or team lead |
| Role-based content | Yes, from end users to administrators and executives | Yes, in the workplace roles lessons |
| Lesson format | Modules in several formats | Five-minute lessons with questions |
| Language level | Check a sample module | Plain words, short sentences |
| Simulated phishing | Yes | Not the focus |
| Culture and knowledge assessments | Yes | No |
| Price model | Described on the vendor's site | Described on our pricing page |
| Effort to run | Rewards a team that manages the program | Little to run |
Vendors change what they offer, so read the pages on their own sites before deciding.
Who should pick which
Pick SANS Security Awareness if you are building a full program, you have a person to own it, you want assessments that measure culture, and your staff include administrators and executives who need training matched to their roles.
Pick DefSafe if you are a small or mid-sized team, you want everyone to learn the basics quickly, many people work away from a desk, and you cannot spare someone to run a program.
Combine them over time if you grow. A company can teach habits to everyone first and add role depth for the few people with the most access.
If you are comparing more than two options, the guide to security awareness training for small business lists what to ask. A good first habit for everyone is how to protect your online accounts.
Questions people ask
Is SANS only for technical people?
No. SANS is known for technical courses, but its awareness group serves ordinary staff too, with content for end users as well as administrators and executives.
Does DefSafe have role-based content?
Yes, in part. There is a group of lessons for workplace roles, including managers and executives. It is lighter than a full role-based program with assessments.
What matters more, depth or completion?
Completion. A lesson that is finished and remembered does more than a better lesson that is skipped. Choose the option your people will actually do, then add depth where the risk is highest.
Do we need to prove training for rules or insurance?
You may. Rules differ by country, industry and insurer. Ask the body that sets your rules, or your insurer, what proof they want before you choose a product.
Learn this in five minutes
The "Managers and Executives" track in DefSafe has short lessons for leaders. They practise setting rules people can follow, finding the systems that matter most, and preparing for targeted attacks.