Understanding Cyber Threats

Warm-up: Stop the click

2 warm-up questions

• Has anyone ever warned you about something just in time — a scam, a dodgy link, a bad deal? How did they say it?
• First try: a colleague messages you — 'Got an email saying my account is locked, there's a link to fix it, clicking now.' You have 30 seconds to stop them. Go.

Reading: What makes a warning work

Read a 200-word text about What makes a warning work

What makes a warning work A security warning is a tiny, high-stakes performance. The other person judges three things in seconds: speed — did you stop the action first and explain second? credibility — can you name the threat and point at one concrete giveaway, or are you just nervous? respect — do they feel helped or stupid? A warning that humiliates gets ignored next time, and next time matters more. To name threats with confidence, you need exactly four — one line each. Phishing: fake emails or messages impersonating a real company to steal your login or card details — the everyday threat. Malware: malicious software that infects a machine, usually via attachments or downloads; its nastiest form is ransomware, which locks every file and demands payment. Social engineering: manipulating the human instead of hacking the machine — urgency, fake authority, fear. Data breach: the aftermath — someone got in, data got out. And one fact that sets your tone: these attacks work on intelligent people, every day, because they're designed to. That's why a good warning never says "how could you fall for that?" — and why the best warners say "I nearly clicked one myself last month."

Vocabulary: Security Vocabulary

6 items

Framework: The Warning

Stop – Name – Show – Redirect, 4 steps

Stop – Name – Show – Redirect: A four-move warning that interrupts a risky action without insulting the person taking it. Fifteen seconds for the first two moves; the rest can wait until the danger has passed.

Reading: Three model warnings

Read a 300-word text about Three model warnings

Three model warnings The same four moves — stop, name, show, redirect — at work, in the car park, and at the family dinner table. Notice the register shift in the third one. The phishing click (colleague, urgent) "Hold on — don't click that yet. That's a phishing email — 'your account is locked, verify within 24 hours' is the oldest pattern there is. Look at the sender: '[email protected]' — your bank writes from its own domain, full stop. If you want to check the account, type the bank's address into your browser yourself. And forward this to IT — these things arrive in batches, and you might save the next person." The USB in the car park (baiting) "Whoa — don't plug that in. I know it's tempting — that's the point. This is a known attack called baiting: drop infected USB drives where staff park, label them something irresistible like 'Salaries Q4', and wait. The giveaway is the label — real HR files don't travel by car park. Hand it to IT security as it is — they have a safe machine for exactly this, and they'll want to know someone's targeting our building." The bank call (your parent, informal register) "Mum, hang up. You can hang up on them — I promise. That's a scam call — banks genuinely never ring asking you to move money to a 'safe account'; that's the script criminals use. Notice how they kept saying you had to do it RIGHT NOW? Real banks don't do deadlines — panic is the trick. Here's what we'll do: I'll sit with you, we'll call the number printed on your bank card — not the number they gave you — and check the account together. You did the right thing telling me before doing anything."

Practice: Security Terms

Gap-fill exercise, 5 items

• A ____ email tries to trick you into giving away your password.
• ____ is software designed to harm your computer.
• A data ____ occurs when unauthorized people access sensitive information.
• ____ is when attackers manipulate people instead of hacking systems.
• A ____ in the software allows hackers to break in.

Practice: Match Threats to Descriptions

Matching exercise, 5 items

• Phishing
• Ransomware
• Data breach
• Social engineering
• Vulnerability

Dialogue: Security Awareness Training

Role-play: You're explaining a security incident to a colleague (6 lines)

• Colleague: Hey, I got this email saying my account was hacked and I need to click a link to fix it. Should I?
• You: Don't click that link! That sounds like a phishing email. Legitimate companies never ask you to verify information through email links.
• Colleague: But it looks exactly like it's from our bank.
• You: That's what makes phishing dangerous - they copy real company logos and designs. Check the sender's email address carefully. It's probably slightly different from the real one.
• Colleague: You're right, the email is from '[email protected]'. What should I do now?
• You: Delete the email and report it to IT security. If you're worried about your account, go directly to the bank's website by typing the address yourself - never use links from emails.

Discussion: Deliver the warning

3 discussion questions

• Mission: pick the threat most likely to hit YOUR workplace (phishing invoice? fake boss email? USB? scam call?) and warn me — I'm your colleague mid-mistake. Use all four moves: stop, name, show, redirect. Success = the stop lands in your first five words, the threat gets its proper name, you point at ONE concrete giveaway, and you end with the safe path plus a report to IT. (Tutor: play the colleague; start by resisting — 'it looks completely real though.')
• Second take: I brush you off — 'Relax, I've had this account for years, it's obviously really them.' Escalate the warning without insulting me: one stronger piece of evidence, one 'thirty seconds to check costs nothing'.
• Compare with your first warning from the warm-up. How many words did it take you to say 'stop' back then — and what's your opening line now?