The challenges

Challenges in Guardey: How they work

Guardey builds security awareness through short, interactive weekly challenges. This article explains how challenges function, how bonus questions differ, and how our modules and storylines create lasting behaviour change.

Understanding Challenges

Challenges are practical, scenario-based exercises that strengthen your security awareness step by step.

• Each challenge takes about 2–3 minutes to complete.
• Everyone starts with access to the first 5 challenges.
• New challenges unlock one at a time after completing the previous one.
• New challenge weeks become available every Tuesday at 14:00 (UTC).
• You receive an email notification when a new challenge is available.

More details on weekly challenges can be found in Wekelijkse uitdagingen.

ℹ️ The frequency of email notifications depends on your organization's admin settings. This may vary between weekly and once every few weeks. Learn more about email notification: Email notification settings

The role of gamification and weekly challenges

Gamification keeps learning engaging and effective by:

• Making learning fun and practical
• Fitting easily into busy schedules
• Encouraging regular learning habits
• Supporting step-by-step skill development
• Offering optional bonus questions to deepen knowledge

Bonus questions explained

Bonus questions provide optional, advanced challenges for extra points.

• Bonus questions unlock after completing the weekly challenge.
• Both challenges and bonus questions refresh every Tuesday.
• They strengthen learning and improve your performance.

Details are available in Weekly bonus challenges.

Points and gamification system

Guardey's gamification motivates progress and healthy competition. You earn:

• XP (Experience Points)
• Loyalty Points (from bonus questions)
• Season XP (combined XP and Loyalty Points)
• Reputation of your fictional company (shown as a percentage)

These elements influence your overall score and leaderboard position.

Explore the scoring system in Understanding Guardey's scoring.

Modules in Guardey

Each module covers a key area of cybersecurity. The 14 modules form the foundation of Guardey's awareness program:

• Security awareness: Introduces basic principles of information security
• Passwords: Teaches best practices for creating and managing secure passwords
• Privacy: Covers how to handle personal and sensitive data responsibly
• Social engineering: Helps recognize and resist manipulation tactics
• Working remotely: Focuses on secure habits when working from home or on the go
• Secure internet: Promotes safe browsing and network usage
• Phishing: Builds the ability to spot and avoid phishing emails and websites
• Malware: Explains different forms of malicious software and how to prevent infections
• Social media: Teaches how to use social platforms securely and responsibly
• Device security: Offers tips for securing laptops, phones, and other devices
• Secure email: Focuses on secure communication and preventing data leaks
• GDPR: Provides insights into data protection rules and compliance
• Physical security: Encourages safe practices around physical equipment and access
• Integrity: Highlights the importance of keeping systems and data accurate and unaltered
• Workspace safety: Covers risks and safe practices in your physical and digital workplace

Storylines and customization

Guardey uses storylines to make training relevant and realistic. Storylines are tailored to industry context or specific job roles.

There are two types of storylines:

• Pre-built storylines: Cover general security topics like phishing, passwords, and social engineering

• Sector-specific storylines: Focused content for sectors such as:

  ◦ Healthcare

  ◦ Education

  ◦ Development Teams (with a focus on secure coding and software risks)

Organizations can customize Guardey in several ways:

• Add or adapt modules to address internal risks or policies
• Edit challenge content to reflect company-specific processes
• Apply different storylines per group or department

Each storyline defines the content and pacing of challenges. As a result, users may experience different timelines depending on their assigned storyline.

Read more in the article storylines in Guardey.