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Hygi.

Skills pathway · 60–90 minutes

Social Engineering Defense

Learn to pause pressure, verify through a separate route, protect authentication, and recover safely. Existing lesson badges count automatically—including your Phishing Defense badge.

Six modules

0 of 6 lesson badges earned

0%
  1. 1How Social Engineering WorksRecognize urgency, authority, fear, secrecy, rewards, and emotional manipulation.Lesson: Safe Browsing & Scams
  2. 2Phishing Across ChannelsSpot suspicious email, text, calls, social messages, QR codes, and workplace requests.Lesson: Stop Phishing Before You Click
  3. 3Verify the Person and RequestIndependently verify financial, family, government, and workplace requests.Lesson: Case Study: The Twitter Phone Phish
  4. 4Authentication ManipulationResist MFA fatigue, code theft, device-code phishing, fake support, and remote access.Lesson: Stop Device-Code Phishing
  5. 5AI-Enhanced ImpersonationRecognize voice cloning, deepfakes, polished AI messages, and synthetic identities.Lesson: Spot AI-Powered Phishing
  6. 6Respond, Recover and ReportProtect accounts, contact financial institutions, preserve evidence, and report incidents.Lesson: Your Personal Incident Plan

Final assessment

Three decisions under pressure

Pass with 12 of 15 answers correct. Both device-code safety questions are mandatory. Review explanations and retry whenever you need.

Scenario 1: A relative needs urgent money

A relative calls from a new number. They sound distressed, say they are stranded, and insist you send money now without telling anyone.

What manipulation tactic is most visible?

What sensitive action are they requesting?

What is the best separate verification route?

What is the safest immediate response?

Where should an attempted money scam be reported?

Scenario 2: “Microsoft support” sends a device code

A caller claiming to be Microsoft support gives you a device code. The code opens a genuine Microsoft sign-in page and the caller asks you to approve it.

What manipulation tactic is being used?

What sensitive action are they requesting?Required safety item

How should you verify the request?

What is the safest immediate response?Required safety item

Where should you report the attempt?

Scenario 3: A supervisor requests an unusual payment

A message from a legitimate-looking supervisor account asks you to urgently pay a new vendor and says they are unavailable for a call.

What manipulation tactic is most visible?

What sensitive action is requested?

What is the best separate verification route?

What is the safest immediate response?

Where should the attempt be reported?

0 of 15 answered

Certificate of Completion: Social Engineering Defense

Recognizes successful completion of Hygi’s evidence-informed curriculum on identifying, verifying, preventing, reporting, and responding to technology-enabled social-engineering threats.

Complete all six lesson badges and pass the final scenario assessment to unlock this one-year certificate. 6 modules remaining; assessment not yet passed.

Evidence and sources

The pathway combines the focused evidence shown inside each lesson. Core references include: