Course Development

Name

School

Course

Date

Organization Summary

Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Savarin, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes founded

Facebook in 2004 (History). Facebook has grown from a dorm room in Harvard to being the

largest multinational social networking organization (History, 2019). Rieff (2020) notes that the

company has expanded its product base beyond its original social network to products such as

messaging services, photo and video sharing, advertising, and other services. It is headquartered

in Menlo Park, California, and it has over 70 offices worldwide (craft, 2020).
 Clement (2020) points out that Facebook achieved annual revenue of $70 billion in 2019

with advertising as its primary income source. The company acquired WhatsApp, Instagram, and

other major firms to expand its product base (CB Insight). Expansion of its product base has

helped it grow to become the fifth-largest technology company globally with a market value of

$764 billion. The organization aims to empower people to come together and build their

communities (Facebook, 2020).

Specific Course

Facebook needs to improve its cybersecurity capabilities. Therefore, the firm should

introduce a cybersecurity training course for its employees. As technology advances, hacking

techniques, and cyber-attacks also advance (Sloane, 2019). Facebook learned this the hard way

when it experienced a major data breach where data of at least 50 million users was exploited by

Cambridge Analytica (Perez & Whittaker, 2018). The company's operations rely heavily on

technology. Therefore, to avoid further data breaches, Facebook needs to invest more in training

their employees on cybersecurity.

Training Description

The cybersecurity training program aims to train and refresh Facebook's employees on

responsibility for company data. It also aims to improve cybersecurity by training employees on

passwords, document management, notification procedure, email, internet use, and unauthorized

software. The training course will also cover mobile devices' use and how the staff can protect

organizational computer resources.

How the Course will address the Identified Issue

 Training on document management and notification procedures will enable Facebook's

employees to identify threats and the right reporting procedure (Travelers, n.d). Training on

passwords enables employees to learn how to set strong passwords and change their passwords

(Travelers, n.d). Enlightening employees on the dangers of using unauthorized software reduces

the chances of attacks on company data (Travelers, n.d). Training in safe internet and email use

also reduces employees' chances of clicking on suspicious links from unknown sources. The

refresher training course can remind employees about its mobile device policy for company-

owned and personal devices during and outside working hours. Employees will also benefit from

training on protecting the company's computer resources from unauthorized physical access.

Goals

Improving better information security is one of the goals of this cybersecurity training

course. Other goals include: establishing a culture of cybersecurity in the company and saving

money. Sloane (2019) note that data breaches are expensive for organizations. For example,

Facebook paid 5 billion in fines for the Cambridge Analytica data breach (FTC, 2019).

Audience Analysis

The primary audience will include personnel in the security department and other support

staff. The secondary audience consists of the administrative assistants, personnel in the IT

department finance, operations, and legal department. Executives also make up the secondary

audience, but training will be optional for them. According to Hern (2019), an employee's

average age at Facebook is 29, which signifies a youthful staff. 37% of its employees are female,

while 63% are male (Clement, 2020). Employees are distributed in over 70 offices in different

countries. The majority of employees have an educational background in computer-related

studies, indicating they are aware of cybersecurity. However, this course will train them on how

to deal with the latest threats.

Delivery

Gary et al. (2013) note that a hands-on approach is time-consuming. Therefore, E-

learning is the best delivery method. Facebook has multiple offices distributes in different

countries. Simply Training (n.d) notes that web-based training facilitates training in different

locations.

References

CB Insights. (2019). Infographic: Facebook's Biggest Acquisitions. CB Insights.

https://www.cbinsights.com/research/infographic-facebook-biggest-acquisitions/.

Clement, J. (2020). Facebook: annual revenue 2009-2019. Statista.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/268604/annual-revenue-of-facebook/#:~:text=In

%202019%2C%20Facebook's%20revenue%20amounted,of%20income%20is%20digital

%20advertising.

Clement, J. (2020). Facebook: global corporate demography 2014-2020, by gender. Statista.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/311827/facebook-employee-gender-global/.

Clement, J. (2020). U.S. companies and cyber-crime - statistics & facts. Statista.

https://www.statista.com/topics/1731/smb-and-cyber-crime/.

Craft. (2020). Facebook Headquarters and Office Locations. Craft.

https://craft.co/facebook/locations.

Facebook. (2020). Who are we? Facebook. https://about.fb.com/company-info/.

FTC. (2019). FTC Imposes $5 Billion Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on

Facebook. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-imposes-5-

billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions.

FXSS. (2020). Top 10 World's Most Valuable Technology Companies in 2020. FXSS.

https://fxssi.com/most-valuable-tech-companies.

Gary, M., Ross, S., Kalman, H., & Kemp, J. (2013). Designing Effective Instruction. Wiley

Publishers.

Hern, A. (2019). Google pays $11m to jobseekers who alleged age discrimination. The

Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/22/google-pays-11m-to-

jobseekers-who-alleged-age-discrimination#:~:text=According%20to%20the

%20research%20firm,at%20Amazon%20it%20is%2030.

History. (2019). Facebook Launches. History.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/facebook-launches-mark-

zuckerberg#:~:text=On%20February%204%2C%202004%2C%20a,that%20was%20only

%20the%20beginning.

Perez, S., & Whittaker, Z. (2018). Everything you need to know about Facebook's data breach

affecting 50M users. Tech Crunch. https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/28/everything-you-

need-to-know-about-facebooks-data-breach-affecting-50m-users/.

Reiff, N. (2020). 5 Companies Owned By Facebook. Investopedia.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/051815/top-11-companies-

owned-facebook.asp.

Simplify Training. (n.d). The Most Effective Training Techniques. Simplify Training.

https://simplifytraining.com/article/most-effective-training-techniques/.
Sloane, K. (2019). 6 Reasons Why Businesses Need Cyber Security Awareness Training. Align.

https://www.align.com/blog/6-reasons-why-businesses-need-cyber-security-awareness-

training.

Travelers. (n.d). Cyber Security Training for Employees. Travelers.

https://www.travelers.com/resources/cyber-security/cyber-security-training-for-

employees.