03Behavioural level
Cybersecurity Awareness
The human factor is not the weak link: it is the first detection sensor, if trained. The path works on the psychological mechanisms of manipulation and on recognising the attacks that come through people, including those carried out with synthetic voice and video.
Social engineeringPhishing and fraudReporting
How it is delivered
- Delivery
- Entirely online and asynchronous, from any device: you study when you want, at your own pace.
- Passing the tests
- At least 70% correct answers; every answer comes with an explanation of why.
- Attempts per test
- Unlimited: the best attempt counts.
- Time per test
- 25-30 minutes per test.
- Progress
- Tracked module by module: each module unlocks when you pass the test of the previous one.
- On completion
- A personal PDF certificate, with a unique verification code.
- Length of access
- You have 90 days from enrolment to complete the learning path. Once you complete it your access stays available with no expiry; if the deadline passes without the path being completed, the enrolment is suspended and the results you have already achieved stay on record.
- Enrolment
- With a personal key, after you have created your account.
The learning path in detail
Welcome. The human factor is not the weak link: it is the first detection sensor, if trained. This path works on the psychological mechanisms of manipulation and on recognising the attacks that come through people, with a behaviour objective, not knowledge alone: what you actually do in the thirty seconds after receiving the suspicious message.
One premise that holds for the whole path: none of this content is there to blame those who fall for an attack. It is there to make the pattern recognisable and reporting immediate: the organisation that punishes those who report late only achieves that nothing gets reported to it any more.
Path objectives
By the end of the path you will be able to:
- recognise the levers of manipulation - authority, urgency, reciprocity, social proof, scarcity - while they act on you (Module 1)
- identify phishing, spear phishing and whaling, and check a message without clicking (Module 2)
- defend yourself against multi-channel fraud: phone calls, SMS, QR codes and combinations of channels (Module 3)
- block payment fraud and Business Email Compromise with out-of-channel checks and dual authorisation (Module 4)
- recognise the start of a ransomware attack and know what to do and what not to do in the first minutes (Module 5)
- contribute to the reporting culture and recognise the signals of insider threat, shadow IT included (Module 6)
Who it is for and prerequisites
To all staff, with no technical prerequisites. The exercises ask you to analyse realistic messages and scenarios: competence is built on recognition, not on theory.
How it is run
The path is delivered entirely online, asynchronously: you can study when you want, at your own pace, from any device. The estimated total duration is 26 hours, to be spread within the completion deadline set out below.
Each module is organised into four lessons and two tests:
- Lesson. A reasoned treatment of the topic, with diagrams, examples and concrete cases.
- In depth. The updated regulatory and technical framework, with the deadlines that matter and references you can check at source.
- Real-world cases. What actually happens out there: documented episodes always read with the same grid, down to the control that would have broken the chain.
- In practice. What you do on Monday morning: procedures, checklists, ready-made templates and indicators to measure the result.
- Module test. Closed-answer questions on the whole module. Passing requires at least 70%; attempts are unlimited and the best mark counts. At the end of each attempt you receive a detailed explanation of every answer, including the correct ones.
- Exercise. A case to work through by deciding: every choice opens a different path and the outcome depends on what you chose, with an explanation of what would have happened otherwise. Marking is automatic and you can retake it as many times as you like.
Progression. The 6 modules are taken in sequence: each module unlocks only after you have passed the test of the previous module. The exercises do not block progress, but they are an integral part of the path and of the overall assessment.
Final test and certificate
Once you have passed the tests of all the modules, the final test is unlocked: 30 questions drawn at random from the topics of the whole path, with the same 70% threshold and unlimited attempts. On passing you obtain the path certificate, downloadable as a PDF, with a unique code that allows its authenticity to be verified.
Completion deadline
You have 90 days from enrolment to complete the learning path. 15 days before the deadline you receive an email reminder.
If you complete the path within the deadline, your access stays available with no time limit and you receive the certificate. If the deadline passes without the path being completed, the enrolment is suspended: the results you have already achieved stay on record, and to carry on you need a new enrolment key.
Support
In the Announcements forum you will find the messages from the tutor. For questions on the content or on the exercises use the channels indicated by your training contact.
Programme
The modules are taken in sequence: each one opens when you pass the test of the previous one.
Module 1
Social engineering: the principles of manipulation
The psychological levers attackers exploit, why they work even on well-prepared people, how a pretext is built from public sources and why blaming reduces security instead of increasing it.
LessonLessonLessonLessonTest · 16 questionsExercise
Module 2
Phishing, spear phishing and whaling
From the mass campaign to the targeted attack built on open sources: recognition criteria that hold up against perfect messages, what to do in the first minutes after a click and the conditions that make a reporting process effective.
LessonLessonLessonLessonTest · 18 questionsExercise
Module 3
Vishing, smishing, QR codes and multi-channel fraud
Attacks that leave the mailbox: telephone, SMS, QR codes, messaging apps and synthetic voice, with the multi-channel sequence that simulates a check and the protocol that dismantles it.
LessonLessonLessonLessonTest · 16 questionsExercise
Module 4
Business Email Compromise and payment order fraud
The fraud that produces the highest financial losses: the four variants, why it gets past the technical controls, the process countermeasure that stops it and the first hours in which recovering the funds is still possible.
LessonLessonLessonLessonTest · 16 questionsExercise
Module 5
Ransomware: how it starts, how it spreads, how it is contained
The full life cycle of a ransomware attack, double extortion, the correct behaviour in the first minutes and the notification deadlines that run from awareness of the fact.
LessonLessonLessonLessonTest · 16 questionsExercise
Module 6
Insider threat and a culture of reporting
Malicious insider threat, negligent, from a compromised credential and workaround out of necessity: four distinct phenomena, the controls that also protect those who work properly, the end of employment as a security process and the two reporting channels.
LessonLessonLessonLessonTest · 18 questionsExercise
Final test and certificate
Thirty questions drawn at random from the topics of all the modules. On passing, the path certificate is issued.
Test · 30 questionsCertificate
How to get access to the learning path
To follow "Cybersecurity Awareness" you need an account on the platform: registration is free and takes a minute. Once the account is created you can request the enrolment key for the learning path.
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