Social Engineering

In Short

• The fourth iteration of the current form of the course will be held during the first half of the Spring term 2026, from February 2 to March 26.
• The aim of this course is to provide students with basic knowledge of social engineering and human-based cyberattacks (see the ICS0018 Course Guide for details). The course is held by the IT College of Tallinn University of Technology and is primarily meant for students of Cyber Security Engineering, but other students interested in the human side of cybersecurity can also benefit from it.
• In principle, the course can be held in contact or e-learning mode (and possibly some hybrid way as well). Due to visiting students from EuroTEQ, the Spring 2025 run is a full e-course (see the Course Guide below for details).
• Course code: ICS0018
• Lecturer: Kaido Kikkas (lectures and CotW seminars; User:Kaido.kikkas, ETIS) and Kristjan Karmo (hands-on seminars; User:Krkarm, LinkedIn)
• Programme: at the Study Information System - unfortunately, it only shows the Estonian version, an English-language programme is available here (note: unchanged from the previous years).
• Volume: 3 ECTS credit points
• Grading: Pass/fail

Course Information

• Course Guide
• Netiquette
• Library
• Hands-on seminars
• CotW seminars

Topics, Materials and Notes

Lecture materials will be published here either shortly before or after every lecture.

1. Lecture 1, February 2 - Intro and Concepts. ODP, PDF
2. Lecture 2, February 9 - Information Gathering. ODP, PDF
3. Lecture 3, February 16 - Elicitation. ODP, PDF
4. Lecture 4, February 23 - Pretexting. ODP, PDF
5. Lecture 5, March 2 - Psychological Aspects. ODP, PDF
6. Lecture 6, March 9 - Influence and Persuasion. ODP, PDF
7. Lecture 7, March 16 - The Way of the Ninja. ODP, PDF

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: Where can I find information about the course (tasks, grading etc)?
• A: from the Course Guide
• ...