Educating educators on social engineering: Experiences developing and implementing a social engineering workshop for all education levels

There has been a noticeable increase in social engineering (SE) attack across the world, especially those that use phishing, vishing, and smshing. Despite the prevalence of cyberattacks that rely on these tactics and techniques, education about SE and how to defend against it is lacking. Instead, the focus of cybersecurity education has been heavily concentrated on technical skills. Recognizing that gap, this paper describes a case study of an attempt to improve SE education by hosting workshops for educators from diverse backgrounds. The workshop that was developed included education on the basics of SE and the psychology behind these attacks, the ethics around SE, and methods for implementing SE exercises in the classroom. Details are also provided on the experiences of those who attended the workshop. Lastly, challenges related to the implementation of the workshop are discussed as well as rationale for the continued use of workshops of this kind.