Across the EU, social engineering continues to drive incidents because it is faster and cheaper than hacking code. The 2025 Verizon DBIR notes that the human element still causes around 60 percent of breaches, which means behaviour sits at the centre of risk for any business size. For SMEs in Estonia and the wider Baltics, this is amplified by lean teams and outsourced IT, where one mis-click can stall operations.
Local data paints the same picture. Estonia’s Information System Authority reported that citizens lost millions of euros to fraud in 2024, with CERT-EE logging hundreds of significant fraud incidents and a surge of phishing pages targeting banks and deliveries. These scams often coax victims into entering Smart-ID credentials on fake sites or approving requests they did not start.
The lesson is straightforward. Technology is essential, yet attackers go around controls by persuading people to help them. Awareness is therefore a business control, not a nice-to-have.
What it is and what it is not
Security awareness training is a structured programme that builds the ability of employees to notice and report cyber threats. It uses short, frequent learning mixed with realistic tests in your workflows. The goal is behaviour change that endures under pressure.
Security awareness is not an annual video or a tick-box task, and it is not about blaming people. The aim is to raise everyday vigilance, sharpen judgement, and turn staff into early-warning sensors who escalate anything suspicious quickly.
Our platform centres on interval drills that mirror real attacks. We run controlled fake phishing email campaigns and related lures, then capture practical metrics such as opens, clicks, page visits, credential or data entry attempts, and report rate. These insights drive the next step: targeted follow-up content and short courses with useful, plain guidance.
The Estonian Smart-ID example illustrates why this matters. Smart-ID uses split-key cryptography and is recognised at high assurance levels under eIDAS, so the technology is robust. Yet many people still fall victim to fraudsters who trick them through social engineering. Deceived or simply less alert at the moment, they enter their Smart-ID codes on fake sites or approve requests they never started, unknowingly giving attackers access.
Consistent exposure to realistic tests helps employees build habits that become automatic. The idea is not to memorise a list of threats but to develop an instinct for unusual patterns – an unexpected tone in an email, a slightly altered domain name, or an approval request that does not fit the context. With repetition, these checks become second nature and drastically reduce the chance of human error.
Regular awareness efforts also strengthen internal communication. When employees feel confident to question unusual requests or report suspicious activity without fear of blame, incidents are caught earlier and handled faster. Over time, this creates a culture where security is a shared responsibility rather than the task of a single department.
Tooling and process integration
A Security Awareness platform integrates directly with your company email system. It can run controlled fake phishing campaigns that imitate real attacks, collect data on user actions such as opens and clicks, and then deliver targeted training based on the results.
Regional and regulatory considerations
In Estonia and across the EU, digital identity systems like Smart-ID are built with strong cryptography and high security standards. The real weakness lies not in the technology but in human behaviour. People remain the biggest vulnerability in cybersecurity – scams succeed when users lose focus, trust the wrong source, or enter their Smart-ID codes on fake pages.
That is why regular Security Awareness training is vital. It helps employees recognise manipulation, verify requests, and maintain vigilance. For organisations operating under regulatory frameworks such as NIS2 or DORA, these programmes are not optional. They demonstrate compliance, strengthen audit readiness, and show that the company actively manages human risk alongside technical controls.
Where useful, we connect awareness with broader improvement. A light-touch Security Assessment clarifies priorities, and fractional CISO-as-a-Service helps embed governance.
