Photo used for illustrative purposes.

 Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

With the launch of a new digital training simulation to raise awareness across the workforce, Dubai-based tech consultancy firm experienced in the field of learning and development, HNI, is starting a series of workshops to help regional businesses to protect themselves from cyber-attacks.

The initiative available in both English and Arabic languages takes a fun and interactive approach to educate employees on scamming techniques, showing them how to protect their organisation from potential hacking threats.

Explaining the thinking behind the initiative, HNI Founder and CEO, Hanan Nagi, said, “Cybersecurity is a critical aspect of modern business, but in many cases, organisations will only tackle the issue once they have been targeted.

We want to help businesses to be proactive rather than reactive in addressing this challenge, by training personnel across the entire organisation.

Any employee in any position can be the target of a scam that could impact the whole business operation, so it’s important that we involve everyone in creating a more secure and resilient cyber landscape.”

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As the cost of cybercrime to the world’s economy is predicted to exceed $10.5tn by 2025, the digital training simulation ultimately aims to help regional businesses to reduce financial losses and prevent reputational damage associated with hacks.

Known as The Great Hack, the initiative takes a gamified approach to train employees in every department and at any level of a business.

It uses character-based role-play to encourage learners to think like a hacker, so that they are able to recognise threats, pre-empt security breaches, and combat potential scams before they cause any disruption. Developed entirely in-house by the HNI Innovation Hub team, the digital training simulation can be licensed to an organisation or customised to meet their specific needs, regardless of business size.

The programme is delivered in bite-size lessons, designed to be taken once a week over the period of one month. At the end of the course, participants will have the ability to recognise and act upon cyber threats such as phishing emails, social engineering, and vishing.

The Great Hack is one of several solutions created by HNI to align professional skills training with the needs of emerging national and regional strategies. Among those initiatives is a growing portfolio of programmes around sustainable development and green energy, linked to the UAE Year of Sustainability and the hosting of COP28.

Hanan explained, “Countries around the region are mobilising the workforce to deliver on the strategic plans and visions statements set out for the coming decades.”