How Highmark Health Drives Measurable Cybersecurity Behavioral Changes

The Client: Highmark Health

Highmark Health, based in Pennsylvania, is one of the largest health insurers and service providers in the United States, providing health care services to millions of customers. They have more than 40,000 employees.

The Challenge: Preventing Cyber Attacks

Like many large organizations, Highmark Health faced the challenge of improving its employees’ cybersecurity awareness to protect sensitive data and prevent cyber-attacks. To address this challenge, Alaina DeGregory, the Senior Security Awareness and Communications Specialist at Highmark Health, turned to Living Security for help.

The Solution: Living Security’s Immersive Training

Living Security is a cybersecurity company that offers an innovative approach to employee cybersecurity training through gamification and interactive content. Alaina was immediately impressed with Living Security's training approach, stating, “The Living Security training program is like nothing I've seen before. It’s engaging, interactive, and fun. Our employees love it.”

Alaina and her team at Highmark Health have been using Living Security’s training program for over a year now and have seen measurable improvements in their employees’ cybersecurity awareness. According to Alaina, “Living Security's training program has been critical in helping us drive behavioral change among our employees. We've seen a significant increase in employees reporting suspicious emails and an overall improvement in our security posture.”

“We had over 5,000 employees voluntarily take Living Security’s training because they love it so much. That's a testament to how effective and enjoyable the training is.”

Alaina DeGregory
Senior Security Awareness and Communications Specialist
Highmark Health

The Experience: Doing More with Less

One of the ways Living Security's training program has helped Highmark Health is by allowing the organization to do more with less. "The Living Security training program is scalable and flexible, which is crucial for us as a large organization with a geographically dispersed workforce," says Alaina. "We can easily roll out the training to thousands of employees without requiring significant resources or time."

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is an annual event that takes place in October to promote cybersecurity awareness and education. In 2021, Highmark Health saw high engagement from employees during this month, thanks to Living Security's training program. However, in 2022, Highmark Health decided to raise security awareness every month, not just in October, using Living Security's training program.

The Result: Employees Request More Training

The decision to extend the training program throughout the year paid off. Alaina explains, "We saw even higher engagement in 2022 than we did in 2021. Our employees are more aware of cybersecurity risks, and they're more confident in their ability to spot and report suspicious activity."

Living Security's training program has been so effective that Highmark Health employees are now voluntarily taking the training, even if it's not mandatory. Alaina proudly states, "We had over 5,000 employees voluntarily take Living Security's training because they love it so much. That's a testament to how effective and enjoyable the training is."