Social Engineering Awareness Training for Employees: The 2025 Framework

At Defendify, we believe that your team can be the strongest line of defense in preventing cyberattacks, provided they receive proper social engineering awareness training. 

Consistent training, combined with straightforward security policies, and a culture of cybersecurity awareness will enable your employees to identify security threats and make the right decisions should they encounter a social engineering attempt. Without social engineering awareness training, your organization becomes vulnerable to cyberattacks such as business email compromise, invoice fraud, social media attacks, and various types of phishing. After all, phishing attacks account for 90% of data breaches, and unfortunately phishing is continuously evolving in sophistication.

What exactly is social engineering?

To take a step back, social engineering is the art of exploiting human psychology (vs. technical hacking techniques) to gain access to buildings, systems, or data. For example, a threat actor might send an email that appears to be sent by the CEO of your company to join an online meeting immediately, or a request from a ‘vendor’ requiring a wire transfer or invoice payment. 

Cyber-attackers use social engineering to manipulate people into performing unsafe functions, often researching their victims extensively prior to their advances. Cybercriminals are known to take advantage of the emotional vulnerability of human beings, resulting in a whopping 88% of data breaches being caused by human error.

Do we really need social engineering awareness training?

There’s a misconception that email spam protection systems block all malicious activity, which is not true. The spam protectors simply don’t catch all types of suspicious emails, and there are ways around them. 

For example, bad actors can launch a social engineering attack from a legitimate email account that has been compromised. Email isn’t the only social engineering method hackers employ; there are multiple social engineering techniques malicious actors employ, such as:

• Spear phishing: Targeted phishing attacks aimed at specific individuals or groups.
• Whaling: Highly targeted phishing attempts aimed at senior executives.
• Baiting: Offering enticing items or downloads to lure victims into providing information.
• Pretexting: Creating a fabricated scenario to trick victims into divulging information.
• Tailgating: Gaining unauthorized access to restricted areas by following authorized personnel.
• Vishing: Using phone calls to deceive victims into revealing sensitive data.
• Smishing: Using SMS text messages from VoIP phone numbers to trick victims into clicking malicious links or revealing information.

Even with traditional security in place like antivirus and firewalls, cyber-attackers can penetrate an organization by getting an employee to provide access to the systems housing sensitive information, often without their knowledge. 

Most cyberattacks begin their scam with social engineering components, such as a phishing email. Once the employee falls for their ruse, the cybercriminal might harvest credentials, enable malware, or have an employee make a financial payment to an attacker. Without proper security awareness training, employees can fall victim to wire fraud, gift card scams, and other types of account takeover.

How can I set my organization up for success?

An excellent place to start your program is to create straightforward security policies. Without clearly defined policies, employees are left with many opportunities to accidentally fall victim to social engineering attacks. 

Most employees are simply unaware that activities such as connecting personal devices to the network, checking personal email on a work computer, or failing to report a suspicious email can increase the likelihood of a successful cyberattack. 

Introducing policies during new employee onboarding and at regular intervals throughout their tenure removes some of the ambiguity (and the associated risk) from how people operate at work.Before you implement your program, it’s important to obtain buy-in from leadership, and ensure  everyone in the organization from the top down is committed to participate.

What are the building blocks of a social engineering awareness training program?

• Technology Acceptable Use Policy. Establish a clear and strong baseline for how technology and data should be used and protected, remotely or in-office.
• Awareness Training. Lay a foundation of awareness with basic cybersecurity training at the beginning of employment and annually for the entire organization. This training should cover common security threats, social engineering tactics, and best practices for information security.
• Awareness Graphics. Post constant, engaging visual reminders of key topics staged around the office, or share digitally via your organization’s messaging channels.
• Phishing Simulations. Build muscle memory for how to spot a phishing email to keep social engineering tactics top of mind and at bay. These simulations can be adaptive, adjusting to individual employee performance.
• Awareness Videos. Distribute relevant and engaging micro-videos to your team regularly, keeping their education fun and ongoing.
• Awareness Webinars: Conduct interactive webinars to dive deeper into specific types of social engineering attacks and provide real-time Q&A.

How often should our organization run social engineering awareness training?

The frequency and repetition of social engineering training sessions should be at least monthly, with ongoing, short reinforcements. 

Social engineering training should be frequent and engaging so that information “sticks” with employees. Consider using a variety of training modules to keep the content fresh and relevant.

Consistent, multi-channel, and engaging social engineering awareness training builds a team of cyber-defenders and decreases the chances of a socially engineered cyberattack. By implementing a strong training program, your employees will be ready at your defense and your organization significantly more fortified.

Ready to upgrade your social engineering awareness training program? Let’s talk.

Social engineering training FAQs

How can social engineering training improve our organization’s overall security posture?

Social engineering training is crucial for improving an organization’s security posture in several ways:

• Human firewall: Trained employees become a human firewall, able to identify and avoid social engineering attempts, reducing the risk of successful attacks.
• Security culture: Training fosters a security-conscious culture where employees prioritize security practices and actively contribute to protecting the organization.
• Data protection: By reducing the risk of human error, social engineering training helps protect sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands.

What are the different types of social engineering assessments available?

Several types of assessments can help evaluate and improve an organization’s resilience to social engineering attacks:

• Phishing simulations: These simulations test employees’ ability to identify and avoid phishing emails.
• Vulnerability scanning: These scans identify weaknesses in systems and applications that could be exploited by attackers.
• Penetration testing: This involves simulating real-life attacks, including social engineering tactics, to identify vulnerabilities in security controls and employee awareness.

How can I measure the effectiveness of a cybersecurity awareness training program?

You can use a variety of metrics and methods to evaluate the effectiveness of your cybersecurity awareness training program:

• Phishing simulation click rates: Track how often employees click on malicious links in simulated phishing emails to gauge their ability to identify and avoid cyber threats.
• Quiz scores and knowledge retention: Regular quizzes and assessments help measure employee understanding of key cybersecurity concepts and identify areas where further training is needed.
• Reported suspicious emails and incidents: Encourage employees to report any suspicious emails or security incidents they encounter. The number of reports indicates increased vigilance and awareness.