What is the primary goal of the Security Awareness Program under CIP-004?

The primary goal of the Security Awareness Program under CIP-004 is to reinforce cybersecurity practices among personnel with authorized access. This requirement emphasizes the importance of training and educating all employees who interact with critical infrastructure systems, ensuring they are aware of security policies, potential threats, and the best practices to mitigate risks.

By focusing on personnel with authorized access, the program aims to cultivate a culture of security awareness, where employees understand their roles in safeguarding systems and data against cyber threats. This proactive approach helps to minimize human error, which is often a significant factor in security breaches.

The other options do not align with the primary goals of the Security Awareness Program. The emphasis is not on continuous hardware upgrades, the sole protection of physical assets, or limiting training to management-level employees, since effective cybersecurity requires engagement and compliance from personnel at all levels.