A friendly phone call from “IT”, a colleague urgently asking for help, or a service technician who sounds just a little too convincing. Social engineering exploits trust, helpfulness and time pressure. That is precisely why it is one of the most successful attack techniques used by cybercriminals.
In the e-learning Recognising Social Engineering, employees discover how these attacks work in practice. Through realistic scenarios — such as phone calls, emails, social media interactions and unexpected requests — the course shows how social engineers manipulate people to gain access to sensitive information.
The course makes it clear that social engineering is not just an IT problem, but a human risk. Participants learn why even alert and experienced employees can fall victim, and how small pieces of information can be combined into a serious security incident.
In addition to recognition, the focus is on prevention and response. What should you do when someone claims to be a colleague, supplier or IT employee? How do you verify the legitimacy of a request? And what responsibility do you personally have in protecting confidential information? With practical guidance and clear examples, this e-learning helps employees stay aware, critical and resilient.
What will participants learn?
After completing this course, participants will:
- understand what social engineering is and why it is so effective
- recognise common tactics, such as authority, urgency and trust-building
- know how social engineers collect and combine information
- be able to assess suspicious phone calls, emails and messages
- know how to act when in doubt or when manipulation is suspected
- understand their own role and responsibility in information security
Who is this course for?
This course is suitable for:
- all employees, regardless of role or technical background
- organisations aiming to prevent data breaches, fraud and account misuse
- organisations working in line with ISO 27001, BIO or NIS2
- teams that want to strengthen security awareness at a behavioural level
Why this course is relevant right now
Social engineering is the leading cause of cyber incidents within organisations. Cybercriminals increasingly target people rather than systems. With this course, you strengthen a critical line of defence: aware, critical and resilient employees.