Turning the Tide on Training: How Virginia Tech Reached 97% Security Awareness Compliance Without Lockouts

In early 2025, Virginia Tech IT leadership confronted a sobering truth: our annual security awareness training wasn’t reaching most of our university community. Assignments were inconsistent, completion rates were low, and the traditional “mandatory training” reminders weren’t working. Rather than enforcing compliance through system lockouts or punitive measures, we took a different approach, combining data-driven insights, cross-department collaboration, and a bit of behavioral science. By partnering with Human Resources, academic departments, and college leadership, we streamlined assignment processes, improved visibility, and reframed the training’s value. The result? A jump from widespread non-compliance to 97% completion by Halloween 2025 without removing anyone’s system access. More important, this proven approach can now be used beyond security awareness training. The dashboards, partnership model, and accountability mechanisms developed through this effort will serve as a reusable framework for improving compliance across multiple areas of IT security in a decentralized higher education environment. Join us to learn how Virginia Tech transformed its training culture through communication, design, and gentle accountability, and how you can replicate these results at your own institution.