Expert Cybersecurity Training That Turns Your Team Into Your Strongest Defense
Your employees are either your greatest security vulnerability or your most powerful line of defense. Petronella Technology Group delivers hands-on cybersecurity training programs—from incident response to security awareness—that equip every person in your organization with the knowledge and reflexes to recognize, resist, and report cyber threats. Serving businesses across Raleigh, Durham, RTP, and the entire Triangle region of North Carolina.
Speak with a cybersecurity training specialist: 919-348-4912
Your Technology Is Only as Secure as the People Who Use It
Over 80% of data breaches involve human error. No firewall, endpoint protection platform, or AI-powered detection system can stop an employee from clicking a well-crafted phishing email, sharing credentials over the phone, or plugging in an infected USB drive.
Phishing attacks bypass technical controls. Sophisticated phishing campaigns are designed to evade spam filters and email gateways. They impersonate executives, vendors, and trusted partners with alarming accuracy. Without training, your employees cannot distinguish a legitimate request from a weaponized one, and a single click can compromise your entire network, encrypt your data with ransomware, or expose sensitive client information to criminal organizations operating overseas.
Untrained teams turn incidents into disasters. When a security incident occurs, the first sixty minutes determine whether the damage is contained to a single workstation or cascades across your entire infrastructure. Teams that have never practiced incident response procedures panic, make errors that destroy forensic evidence, delay containment while searching for documentation that does not exist, and fail to notify the right people at the right time. The difference between a minor event and a catastrophic breach often comes down to training.
Compliance mandates require documented training. HIPAA, CMMC, NIST 800-171, PCI-DSS, SOX, and virtually every other regulatory framework require documented, recurring cybersecurity training for all personnel who handle sensitive data. Failure to maintain training records results in audit failures, regulatory fines, lost government contracts, and increased liability exposure in the event of a breach. Triangle-area businesses in healthcare, defense, and financial services face particularly stringent requirements.
One-time training creates a false sense of security. Many organizations conduct a single annual training session, check the compliance box, and assume they are protected. But cyber threats evolve daily. New phishing techniques, social engineering tactics, and attack vectors emerge faster than annual slides can cover. Employees forget what they learned within weeks, click rates on phishing simulations climb back to pre-training levels, and the organization returns to the same vulnerable state while leadership believes the problem is solved.
Continuous, Expert-Led Cybersecurity Training Built for Real-World Threats
Petronella Technology Group does not deliver generic, one-size-fits-all cybersecurity training. We build comprehensive, ongoing training programs that are tailored to your industry, customized for your technology environment, aligned with your compliance requirements, and designed to produce measurable behavioral change in your workforce. Our training philosophy is grounded in a simple truth that we have proven over 22 years of protecting Triangle-area businesses: the organizations that invest in their people are the ones that never appear in breach headlines.
Our approach begins with a thorough assessment of your organization's current security culture, threat landscape, and compliance obligations. We evaluate where your employees stand today through baseline phishing simulations and knowledge assessments, then design a training program that addresses your specific gaps and risk factors. Every module is built around real-world scenarios drawn from actual incidents we have investigated and remediated across more than two decades of cybersecurity operations in Raleigh, Durham, Research Triangle Park, and throughout North Carolina.
PTG's training programs span two core disciplines. Our security awareness training educates every employee in your organization on recognizing and resisting phishing, social engineering, credential theft, and other common attack vectors. Our incident response training equips your IT team and designated responders with the advanced skills needed to detect, contain, investigate, and recover from active security incidents.
Together, these programs create a defense-in-depth human layer that complements your technical controls and satisfies the training requirements of every major compliance framework. We track metrics rigorously, provide detailed reporting to your leadership team, and continuously refine the program based on emerging threats and your organization's evolving needs. The result is not just compliance documentation—it is genuine, lasting behavioral change that reduces your risk of a breach.
Four-Phase Training Framework
- 1 Assess — Baseline evaluation of your security culture through phishing simulations, knowledge assessments, policy reviews, and interviews with key personnel to identify training gaps and risk areas.
- 2 Design — Custom curriculum development tailored to your industry, compliance requirements, technology stack, and organizational structure. Scenarios are built from real incidents.
- 3 Deliver — Multi-format training delivery including on-site workshops, live virtual sessions, self-paced modules, phishing simulations, and hands-on tabletop exercises.
- 4 Measure & Refine — Ongoing metric tracking, quarterly reporting, trend analysis, and continuous curriculum updates based on emerging threats and organizational improvement data.
Comprehensive Cybersecurity Training for Every Level of Your Organization
From frontline employees to incident response teams, PTG delivers training programs that create lasting behavioral change and measurable security improvements across your entire workforce.
Incident Response Training
Prepare your IT team and designated responders to detect, analyze, contain, eradicate, and recover from active cybersecurity incidents. PTG's incident response training program covers the full NIST incident response lifecycle through hands-on tabletop exercises, simulated breach scenarios, forensic investigation techniques, evidence preservation protocols, and coordination procedures for legal, compliance, and law enforcement engagement. Your team will practice under realistic conditions so they can execute with precision when every second counts during a real-world attack on your Raleigh, Durham, or Triangle-area business.
Explore Incident Response Training →Security Awareness Training
Transform every employee in your organization into an informed, vigilant defender against cyber threats. PTG's security awareness training program covers phishing recognition, social engineering resistance, password security, safe browsing practices, mobile device security, data handling procedures, and regulatory compliance obligations specific to your industry. Delivered through engaging, scenario-based modules with continuous phishing simulations that reinforce lessons and provide measurable metrics on your workforce's security posture improvement over time across your North Carolina business operations.
Explore Security Awareness Training →Phishing Simulation Campaigns
Continuous, realistic phishing simulations that test your employees' ability to identify and report malicious emails. PTG designs campaigns that mirror the tactics used by actual threat actors targeting organizations in your industry, including business email compromise, credential harvesting, malware delivery, and spear phishing. Employees who click receive immediate, constructive feedback with educational content explaining what they missed. We track click rates, reporting rates, and behavioral trends over time, providing leadership with actionable data on your human security posture and clear evidence of improvement for compliance auditors.
Tabletop Exercises & Incident Drills
Facilitated, scenario-based exercises that walk your incident response team, IT leadership, and executive stakeholders through realistic cyber attack scenarios. PTG designs custom tabletop exercises around the threats most relevant to your organization—ransomware, data exfiltration, insider threats, business email compromise, and supply chain attacks. Participants practice decision-making, communication, escalation, and coordination under simulated pressure. Each exercise concludes with a detailed after-action report identifying gaps in your response plan and providing prioritized recommendations for improvement.
Compliance-Specific Training
Purpose-built training modules that satisfy the specific training requirements of HIPAA, CMMC, NIST 800-171, PCI-DSS, SOX, and other regulatory frameworks. PTG develops curriculum that maps directly to the control requirements of your applicable standards, ensuring every training session produces the documentation and evidence your compliance auditors demand. Our compliance training covers the regulatory landscape, employee obligations, data handling requirements, incident reporting procedures, and the specific penalties for non-compliance—all within the context of your industry and operational environment across the Triangle region.
Training Metrics & Reporting
Data-driven measurement of training effectiveness that goes far beyond completion tracking. PTG monitors phishing click rates, incident reporting velocity, knowledge assessment scores, training completion percentages, and real-world incident correlation data. We provide quarterly executive reports with trend analysis, industry benchmark comparisons, and strategic recommendations for continuous improvement. Your leadership team receives clear, evidence-based visibility into your organization's security culture maturity and the tangible return on your training investment—metrics that satisfy boards, insurers, and compliance auditors alike.
Executive Cybersecurity Briefings
Targeted briefings for C-suite executives, board members, and senior leadership that translate complex cybersecurity risks into business language. PTG prepares your leadership to make informed decisions about security investments, understand their fiduciary and regulatory obligations, and communicate effectively with technical teams during incidents. These sessions cover the current threat landscape, your organization's specific risk profile, liability considerations, cyber insurance implications, and the strategic value of a mature security program—delivered in concise, jargon-free presentations tailored to executive audiences in the Raleigh-Durham business community.
New Hire Onboarding Security Training
Structured cybersecurity onboarding modules that ensure every new employee understands your organization's security policies, acceptable use standards, data handling procedures, and reporting obligations before they gain access to company systems. PTG's onboarding training covers password management, multi-factor authentication setup, phishing awareness, physical security considerations, clean desk policies, removable media restrictions, and the specific compliance obligations relevant to their role. This program establishes security expectations from day one, preventing the knowledge gaps that new hires often bring to organizations.
Training That Delivers Measurable Security Improvements
Ready to see what PTG can do for your business? Schedule a free consultation and join the businesses across the Triangle that trust us with their technology.
919-348-4912Cybersecurity Training Tailored to Your Industry
PTG delivers industry-specific cybersecurity training programs that address the unique threats, regulatory obligations, and operational realities of your sector across the Raleigh, Durham, and RTP region.
Incident Response Training
Advanced training for IT teams to detect, contain, and recover from security incidents.
Security Awareness Training
Organization-wide training to build a security-first culture across your workforce.
Data Breach Forensics
Incident investigation and forensic analysis services for when a breach has occurred.
Schedule a Consultation
Discuss your cybersecurity training needs with PTG's experts today.
Our cybersecurity training programs serve healthcare organizations subject to HIPAA's Security Rule training requirements, defense contractors needing CMMC Level 2 and DFARS 252.204-7012 security awareness compliance, financial institutions meeting GLBA and PCI-DSS workforce training mandates, legal practices training staff on client confidentiality and ethical data handling, manufacturing companies protecting intellectual property and operational technology, and technology firms across the Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle Park corridor building security-first development cultures. Each program is engineered to address the specific threat landscape, regulatory obligations, and workforce composition of your industry vertical.
The Difference Between Checking a Box and Changing Behavior
Most cybersecurity training vendors deliver canned content and call it done. PTG builds training programs that fundamentally change how your people think about security. Here is what separates us from every other training provider in the Triangle:
- 22+ years of frontline cybersecurity experience—Our training content is not theoretical. It is drawn from over two decades of real-world incident investigations, forensic analyses, and threat mitigation across 2,500+ client environments. When we teach your team about ransomware, we are drawing from incidents we have personally contained and remediated.
- zero breaches among clients who implemented our full security recommendations across our managed portfolio—The organizations we protect and train do not appear in breach headlines. Our training programs are a core pillar of that track record, proving that educated, vigilant employees are the most effective security control available.
- Customized, not commoditized—Every PTG training program is built specifically for your industry, technology environment, compliance requirements, and organizational culture. We do not repackage generic slides with your logo. We build scenarios around the threats your employees actually face.
- Continuous reinforcement, not annual events—Our programs run year-round with monthly phishing simulations, quarterly refresher sessions, immediate threat advisories, and ongoing metrics tracking. This continuous cadence produces lasting behavioral change that single annual training sessions cannot achieve.
- Measurable, reportable outcomes—Every PTG training engagement produces detailed metrics and executive reporting that demonstrates tangible improvement. We measure phishing click rates, reporting velocity, knowledge scores, and real-world incident correlation—data your board, insurers, and auditors require.
- Local expertise with national reach—Based in Raleigh, NC, PTG provides on-site training delivery across the Triangle, including Durham, Research Triangle Park, Chapel Hill, and surrounding areas. For organizations with distributed teams, we offer seamless virtual delivery with the same quality and engagement as our in-person sessions.
From Vulnerable to Vigilant in Six Months
A mid-sized defense contractor near Research Triangle Park engaged PTG after realizing their annual compliance-driven training had no measurable impact on employee behavior. Phishing simulations revealed a 38% click rate, and their incident response team had never conducted a structured tabletop exercise despite handling controlled unclassified information daily.
PTG deployed a comprehensive training program combining monthly security awareness modules, bi-weekly phishing simulations, quarterly incident response tabletop exercises, and CMMC-specific compliance training for all personnel with access to CUI. Within six months, the transformation was measurable and dramatic.
Cybersecurity Training Questions Answered
Get answers to the most common questions about PTG's cybersecurity training programs for businesses in the Raleigh-Durham Triangle and across North Carolina.
Petronella Technology Group offers a comprehensive suite of cybersecurity training programs for businesses across the Raleigh-Durham Triangle and throughout North Carolina. Our core programs include incident response training that prepares your team to detect, contain, and recover from security incidents, and security awareness training that educates every employee on recognizing phishing, social engineering, and other common attack vectors. We also provide phishing simulation campaigns, tabletop exercises, compliance-specific training for HIPAA, CMMC, and NIST frameworks, executive cybersecurity briefings, and new hire onboarding security modules. All programs are customized to your industry, regulatory requirements, and organizational maturity level.
Human error remains the leading cause of data breaches, accounting for over 80% of security incidents according to industry research. No matter how advanced your technical defenses are, a single employee clicking a malicious link or falling for a social engineering scheme can bypass every firewall, endpoint protection platform, and intrusion detection system you have deployed. Cybersecurity training transforms your workforce from your most vulnerable attack surface into an active layer of defense. Trained employees recognize threats, report suspicious activity, follow secure data handling procedures, and respond appropriately during security incidents. For businesses in regulated industries across the Triangle, training is also a compliance requirement under HIPAA, CMMC, NIST 800-171, PCI-DSS, and other frameworks.
Security awareness training is designed for all employees across your organization and focuses on building a security-conscious culture. It covers topics like recognizing phishing emails, creating strong passwords, safe internet usage, social engineering tactics, and proper data handling procedures. Incident response training, on the other hand, is an advanced program designed for IT teams, security personnel, and designated incident responders. It teaches the technical and procedural skills needed to detect, analyze, contain, eradicate, and recover from active security incidents such as ransomware attacks, data breaches, and network intrusions. PTG recommends that every organization implement both programs for comprehensive protection. Learn more about each at our incident response training and security awareness training pages.
PTG recommends a continuous training approach rather than a single annual session. Our baseline recommendation includes quarterly security awareness refresher sessions for all employees, monthly phishing simulation campaigns to maintain vigilance, annual comprehensive incident response training for technical teams, immediate supplemental training whenever a new threat vector emerges or an internal policy changes, and onboarding training for every new hire before they access company systems. This continuous cadence keeps security top of mind and ensures your team stays current with evolving threats. Many compliance frameworks including HIPAA and CMMC require documented, recurring training as part of their security controls.
Absolutely. Every PTG training program is tailored to your specific industry, regulatory environment, and organizational needs. For healthcare organizations in the Triangle area, we develop HIPAA-focused training that covers protected health information handling, breach notification requirements, and healthcare-specific threat scenarios. Defense contractors receive CMMC and DFARS-aligned training covering controlled unclassified information protection and incident reporting obligations. Financial services firms get PCI-DSS and SOX-relevant content, while legal practices receive training focused on attorney-client privilege protection and ethical obligations around data security. We also customize scenarios and examples to reflect your actual technology environment, making training immediately relevant and actionable for your team.
Phishing simulations are controlled, realistic email campaigns that PTG sends to your employees to test their ability to recognize and respond to phishing attempts. These simulated attacks mimic the tactics, techniques, and procedures used by real threat actors, including business email compromise, credential harvesting, malware delivery, and spear phishing. When an employee clicks a simulated phishing link or submits credentials, they receive immediate educational feedback explaining what they missed and how to identify similar threats in the future. PTG tracks metrics including click rates, reporting rates, and improvement trends over time, providing your leadership team with measurable data on your organization's human security posture. These simulations are a core component of our security awareness training program and run continuously throughout the year.
Yes. Tabletop exercises are a critical component of PTG's incident response training program. These facilitated, scenario-based discussions walk your incident response team, IT staff, and executive leadership through realistic cyber attack scenarios in a low-stress environment. PTG designs custom tabletop exercises based on the threat landscape most relevant to your industry and infrastructure, including ransomware attacks, data exfiltration, insider threats, business email compromise, and supply chain compromises. Participants practice decision-making, communication protocols, escalation procedures, and coordination with legal, public relations, and law enforcement. After each exercise, PTG provides a detailed after-action report identifying strengths, gaps, and specific recommendations for improving your incident response plan and procedures.
PTG employs a data-driven approach to measuring training effectiveness. Key metrics we track include phishing simulation click rates and how they trend downward over time, incident reporting rates showing increased employee vigilance, time-to-report metrics for security events, knowledge assessment scores from pre- and post-training evaluations, training completion and participation rates for compliance documentation, and real-world incident reduction correlated with training milestones. We provide detailed quarterly reports to your leadership team with these metrics, along with benchmark comparisons against industry averages and actionable recommendations for continuous improvement. This evidence-based approach ensures your training investment delivers measurable security improvements, not just checkbox compliance.
PTG offers flexible delivery options to accommodate your organization's needs and preferences. For businesses in the Raleigh, Durham, RTP, and greater Triangle area, we provide on-site instructor-led training sessions at your facility, which are ideal for incident response tabletop exercises and hands-on technical training. We also offer live virtual training via video conferencing for remote and hybrid teams, self-paced online learning modules accessible through our training platform, and blended programs that combine on-site workshops with ongoing online reinforcement. Our phishing simulation campaigns run continuously in the background regardless of delivery format. For organizations with multiple locations across North Carolina, we can coordinate multi-site rollouts with consistent content and synchronized scheduling.
PTG's cybersecurity training programs are priced based on your organization's size, the number of employees to be trained, the specific programs selected, and the delivery format. We offer annual subscription-based pricing for ongoing security awareness training and phishing simulations, as well as project-based pricing for incident response training, tabletop exercises, and custom workshops. Most Triangle-area small and mid-sized businesses find our training programs to be a fraction of the cost of a single security incident, making them one of the highest-ROI cybersecurity investments available. Contact us at 919-348-4912 for a customized training assessment and quote tailored to your organization's specific needs and budget.
Ready to Transform Your Team Into a Human Firewall?
Schedule your free cybersecurity training consultation with Petronella Technology Group. Our experts will assess your organization's current security culture, identify training gaps, and design a customized program that delivers measurable results. Serving Raleigh, Durham, RTP, and the entire Triangle region for over 22 years with zero breaches among clients who implemented our full security recommendations. No obligation, no pressure—just expert guidance from the team that over 2,500 companies trust to keep their people and data safe.
Prefer to talk now? Call us directly at 919-348-4912