Despite women being more likely to see cybersecurity as a shared responsibility across an organisation than their male counterparts, they are often not receiving the necessary security training.

This is according to managed threat detection and response provider e2e-assure which surveyed 1,000 employees across a range of sectors, from healthcare, professional services, financial services, and manufacturing.

About half of women surveyed said they viewed cybersecurity as a responsibility of everyone in their organisation, while only three in ten men felt the same.

This is despite the prominence of cybersecurity incidents across organisations, with 90% of workers reporting being a victim of a cyber-attack at their work.

While women may intend to share cybersecurity as a responsibility, nearly one third (28%) said they were uncertain on the consequences of a cyber-attack, counter to 16% of men. Men were also found to be more aware of AI policies compared to women, at 27% versus 21%, respectively.

It seems that across genders, employees are underserved when it comes to receiving the necessary training to deal with a cyber breach, though women are slightly more underserved (30% vs 35% of men). The same figures represent, however, the differences in who risks disciplinary action if they are the cause of a breach.

“Cybersecurity in 2025 and beyond is not just an IT issue, it’s a business-wide responsibility,” Robe Demain, CEO of e2e-assure, said.

“Our research reveals that while men and women recognise the importance of security, businesses are missing a crucial opportunity to drive forward cyber resilience, as they feel disconnected to training provided.

“This means men are less likely to recognize the importance of their cybersecurity practices for the rest of the organization. And while women view it as a collective responsibility, they’re uncertain about the consequences, due to lack of training effectiveness.”

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Interestingly, one in four men said that they saw themselves as responsible for the security of their organisation, while just 18% of women felt the same. This perception of individual vs collective responsibility for security may have to do with the slight discrepancies seen in who is more likely to receive disciplinary action.

While taking up responsibility can be positive, an individualistic approach to security can lead individuals to adopt their own security measures that are not organisationally authorised.

Businesses should consider some of the gendered differences in preferences when it comes to cyber training in order to maximise security e2e-assure says.

Around one third (34%) of women say they value clearer communication when it comes to training, compared to 29% of men. A quarter (24%) of men said they would be more motivated by incentives and rewards, compared to just 17% of women. Women were also more likely to prefer training with real life scenarios (34%) than men (30%).