The Social Engineer

The VR title allows players to step into the shoes of a social engineering penetration tester, whose task is to gain access to a company’s design drafts or financial data. By putting oneself in the role of an attacker, the dangers of social engineering to the data security of an individual or a company are brought to life very effectively. No hacking skills are required; instead, common sense is key. Searching rubbish bins for discarded documents, planting virus-infected USB sticks or scouring social media profiles – all the realistic attack vectors featured in the game were developed in collaboration with an IT security firm.

A practical, realistic and, at the same time, enjoyable way of familiarising oneself with the greatest vulnerabilities in any security chain – the human factor – makes this prototype particularly interesting to the expert jury. Future potential applications in both the gaming and serious learning sectors spark the imagination regarding possible, including commercial, further development of the project.

The DCP Jury 2021