Implementing and Measuring Security Awareness

This capstone unit focuses on translating security awareness principles into a measurable, operational program: establishing baselines, tracking trends, and using human-factors informed content to change behavior. Students learn to brand and run a program, report to leadership, incorporate incidents and breaking news, and apply gamification and remediation techniques to improve organizational security posture.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze Day 0 baselines and ongoing program metrics (e.g., phishing click rates, repeat-offender frequency, incident response timelines) to identify trends and prioritize program improvements
• Apply human-factors principles, social engineering awareness, physical-security considerations, and mission-aligned branding to design behavior-focused awareness activities, including evidence-based gamification elements
• Demonstrate the ability to create management-ready reports and stakeholder communications that present metrics, early wins, and credibility-building evidence to secure resources and leadership buy-in
• Evaluate real incidents and breaking news for integration into learning interventions, design remediation pathways for repeat offenders, and run a complete security awareness course