The Benefits of Customised Role-Based Security Awareness Training

Role-Based Security Awareness Training: Protecting Your Organisation from Targeted Phishing

In today’s complex business world, organisations rely on employees with diverse skills and responsibilities to keep operations running smoothly. Each role brings unique abilities, and unfortunately, this is something cybercriminals exploit. Fraudsters carefully target employees based on their job roles, using tactics like Business Email Compromise (BEC) and spear-phishing to manipulate trust and gain unauthorised access.

Why Cybercriminals Focus on Employee Roles

Fraudsters know that tailored attacks are more convincing. By mimicking the responsibilities and language of a specific role, they increase the likelihood that employees will click malicious links, share confidential data, or authorise financial transactions. Commonly targeted roles include:

• C-level executives and executive assistants – Often the focus of whaling and BEC scams, attackers aim to compromise emails or extract sensitive information from top executives.
• Payroll teams – Employees handling salaries are targeted to reroute payments to fraudulent accounts.
• Human Resources (HR) – HR manages confidential personnel data, making it a valuable target for multi-step attacks such as payroll fraud and BEC.
• Finance and accounts payable – This department manages funds, making it an obvious target for financial fraud and sophisticated phishing campaigns.
• Privileged users – With elevated access rights, these employees provide cybercriminals with a direct route into sensitive areas of the network.

Also read: Creating a Security Awareness Program for Your C-Suite

How Role-Based Security Awareness Training Helps

Just as fraudsters tailor attacks to roles, organisations can implement role-based security awareness training to reduce cyber risk. By customising training for each role, employees gain practical knowledge of the threats they are most likely to face, making them more vigilant and resilient.

Simulated Phishing for Realistic Training

Simulated phishing campaigns reinforce training by mimicking the tactics used by cybercriminals. Role-specific phishing simulations help employees recognise tailored threats before a real attack occurs. For effective role-based training, platforms must support phishing templates customised for each job function.

Examples of Role-Based Phishing Attacks

• Privileged users – The Lazarus hacking group has targeted system administrators with spoofed job offers to gain access to sensitive networks.
• Accounts payable – Facebook and Google lost over $100 million to spear-phishing attacks targeting employees in financial roles.
• Salary mandate fraud – Fraudsters send emails to HR or payroll staff requesting changes to bank account details, redirecting salaries to their own accounts.

Also read: Creating a Security Awareness Program for Your C-Suite

Benefits of Customised Security Awareness Training

Customised role-based training provides:

• Role-specific threat education – Employees learn about the exact scams that target their responsibilities.
• Increased engagement – Training feels relevant and actionable, improving retention and application.
• Reduced risk of breaches – Employees become confident in identifying threats before damage occurs.
• Regulatory compliance – Training can be aligned with industry standards and legal requirements.
• Proactive security culture – Encourages a company-wide mindset of vigilance and accountability.

By teaching employees to recognise threats specific to their roles, organisations can prevent costly breaches and enhance overall security posture.

MetaCompliance’s Role-Based Security Awareness Training delivers tailored, department-focused programmes to protect employees from phishing, social engineering, and other cyber risks. Explore our Human Risk Management Platform, featuring automated security awareness, advanced phishing simulation, and targeted training to keep your organisation safe.