By Conigto
Fake AI, Real Threat: Secure Your Workspace is a 14-hour, fully asynchronous, self-paced e-learning course designed for the modern SME worker who uses digital communication daily but has had little to no exposure to the evolving landscape of AI-enabled cyber threats. The course does not begin with technology — it begins with people. Every concept is introduced through workplace analogies, real-world SME case studies, and decision-making simulations that mirror the exact scenarios learners are likely to encounter. By connecting abstract threats to concrete daily experiences — a suspicious email, an unusual voice call, a colleague using an unfamiliar app — the course builds threat awareness from the ground up. Across two structured learning days, learners progress through four modules, moving from foundational threat literacy (Day 1) to practical workspace defence and incident response (Day 2). Each module blends short explanatory segments, visual scenario walkthroughs, interactive knowledge checks, and reflection activities. The design philosophy is: no jargon without translation, no theory without application. Learners who complete the programme will leave not with a list of things to fear, but with a set of behaviours, protocols, and habits that meaningfully reduce their personal and organisational exposure to AI-driven threats.
Module 1: AI Threats Decoded 1.What AI actually is — and what it is not 2.Why AI has become the attacker's tool of choice 3.The four major AI threat categories: deepfakes, synthetic voice/text phishing, shadow AI, and adversarial data manipulation 4.How these threats reach an SME employee's everyday workday 5.Module 1 Knowledge Check Quiz Module 2: Inside the Attack Surface 1.Social engineering amplified by AI: how manipulation has become industrialised 2.Shadow AI: the risk of tools nobody approved 3.Prompt injection and AI tool abuse 4.Data leakage through AI-assisted workflows 5.End-of-Day 1 Workspace Security Self-Audit 6.Module 2 Knowledge Check Quiz Module 3: Workspace Hardening 1.Vetting and approving AI tools for workplace use 2.Password hygiene, access controls, and multi-factor authentication in plain English 3.Device security and the risks of personal AI tool use on work devices 4.Building a verification habit: the "Stop, Verify, Report" protocol 5.Module 3 Knowledge Check Quiz Module 4: Respond, Report & Recover 1.Recognising the warning signs that an attack may be underway 2.Internal escalation: who to tell, when, and how 3.Post-incident recovery and what "business continuity" means for a small team 4.Building a security-aware culture: from individual habit to team standard 5.Drafting your organisation's AI Acceptable Use Policy (guided activity) 6.Capstone Situational Assessment 7.Module 4 Knowledge Check Quiz
Review the full chapter list, then open a chapter to study its content.
How artificial intelligence is weaponised against your workplace — and what to do about it.
Outcome: Define key terms: artificial intelligence, deepfake, phishing, social engineering, shadow AI, prompt injection, and data exfiltration, in plain English. Identify the four primary AI-enabled threat categories covered in this course.
How social engineering, shadow AI, data leakage, and adversarial AI combine to breach SMEs.
Outcome: Explain how AI lowers the cost and effort barrier for cybercriminals targeting SMEs. Describe how deepfake audio and video attacks are constructed and deployed in a business context.
From awareness to action. Close the gaps, build the habits, protect the workplace.
Outcome: ✓ Vet and approve AI tools ✓ Apply MFA and password hygiene ✓ Implement Stop–Verify–Report ✓ Run a device security check
Attacks happen. What separates organisations that survive from those that don't is how they respond.
Outcome: Identify a personal incident response playbook and a draft AI Acceptable Use Policy for your organisation.