What is Security Awareness Training?
Security awareness training, told as a story about a thief-spotting class that everyone in the castle attends — not just the guards.
There's a wall, a bell, a dog — and the cook opened the door.The thief never climbed the wall. One fake letter got a person to open the door.
Ten of the castle's 200 people are guards. The thief talks to the other 190.By letter, by voice, in disguise. If only the guards can spot a thief, 190 doors are standing open.
Security awareness training is a thief-spotting class for everyone in the castle.The cook and the prince sit in the same seat. Not one long lecture but short and often. Nobody gets scolded for being fooled — everyone remembers one thing: feels off? send a note.
Practice with fake letters. Open one and you learn; report one and you're thanked.The guard room sends fake letters, pretending to be the thief. Month by month fewer people open them and more send a note — because nobody gets scolded.
This time, the cook rang the bell.One odd seal, one note to the guard room. Now everyone in the castle is a lookout — not 10 guards, but 200.
Security awareness training = a thief-spotting class for everyone in the castle, not just the guards. Short and often, practice with fake letters, no scolding, and feels off? one note.
Recurring training so every employee can recognize and report phishing, social engineering, and credential threats, practiced with simulated phishing. The goal: lower click rates, higher report rates.
When grown-ups say it
- Social engineering
- Getting past people, not walls. Letters, calls, disguises. A person is cheaper to fool than a lock. → the letter from the fake post office
- Phishing simulation
- The guard room's fake letter. We send it before the thief does. Open it, and you get a short lesson on the spot.
- Click rate
- How many opened it. The red bar. It should fall month by month.
- Report rate
- How many sent a note. The green bar. Matters more than the click rate — one report is enough to ring the bell.
- Report button
- One note. One button next to the letter. Press it, and it goes to the guard room.
- Security culture
- A castle that doesn't scold. Scold the fooled and they hide it next time. Thank the ones who speak up and they speak faster.
- Human firewall
- A wall made of people. When 200 people are lookouts, 200 doors are locked. → the wall with many doors
- Onboarding training
- Day-one class. The thief-spotting class a new maid gets on day one — before she gets a key.