Social engineering is one of the most inventive methods of gaining unauthorized access to information systems and obtaining sensitive information. This type of cybersecurity threat requires minimal technical knowledge because it relies on the organization’s human element. Social engineers use various techniques, such as phishing, to manipulate users into either granting them access to various systems or disclosing their private data and information. Social engineering attacks can cost organizations more than 100,000 USD per instance. Therefore, it is necessary for organizations to increase their users’ awareness of social engineering attacks to mitigate the problem. The aim of this study is to provide a measurement of social engineering awareness in the Saudi educational sector. To achieve the aim of this study, a questionnaire was developed and evaluated. A total of 465 respondents completed the survey and answered questions related to measuring their knowledge of social engineering. The results show that 34% of participants (158 participants) had previous knowledge of social engineering approaches. The results also indicate that there are significant differences between participants with prior knowledge of social engineering and those with no such knowledge in terms of their security practices and skills. The implication of this study is that training is an essential factor in increasing the awareness of social engineering attacks in the Saudi educational sector.

An attacker has several options for breaking through an organization's information security protections. Human factors are determined to be the source of some of the worst cyber-attacks every day in every business. The human method, often known as "social engineering", is the hardest to cope with. This paper examines many types of social engineering. The aim of this study was to ascertain the level of awareness of social engineering, provide appropriate solutions to problems to reduce those engineering risks, and avoid obstacles that could prevent increasing awareness of the dangers of social engineering-Shaqra University (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). A questionnaire was developed and surveyed 508 employees working at different organizations. The overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.756, which very good value, the correlation coefficient between each of the items is statistically significant at 0.01 level. The study showed that 63.4% of the surveyed sample had no idea about social engineering. 67.3% of the total samples had no idea about social engineering threats. 42.1% have a weak knowledge of social engineering and only 7.5% of the sample had a good knowledge of social engineering. 64.7% of the male did not know what social engineering is. 68.0% of the administrators did not know what social engineering is. Employees who did not take courses showed statistically significant differences.