Security Awareness Training in Construction: Is Your Programme Built for the Right Threats?
Why generic security awareness training falls short in construction, and how role-specific phishing simulations help build stronger cyber resilience
Construction firms are among the most targeted organisations for ransomware, yet security awareness training is one of the hardest things to get right in the sector. Not because firms don't care, or the technology isn't available. Most security awareness training is built around generic corporate phishing scenarios rather than the supplier, contractor, and project communications construction teams deal with every day.
Construction and engineering ranked as the most impacted sector for ransomware in September 2025, accounting for 11.4% of all victims1. Ransomware attacks against the sector grew 41% between 2023 and 20242.
The average ransomware incident now results in 24 days of downtime3, and 77% of construction organisations say they cannot tolerate more than five days without access to project documentation before severe operational impact sets in4. The pressure to restore systems quickly is exactly what attackers rely on.
How Supply Chains Create the Risk
Construction organisations operate with complex, multi-tier supply chains. Subcontractors, specialist consultants, equipment suppliers, and project partners all communicate through the same inboxes, often urgently, about deliveries, change orders, invoice approvals, and project updates. That volume of routine external communication is exactly the environment phishing campaigns are designed to exploit.
Construction teams coordinate constantly with external organisations. Purchase orders, delivery notifications, invoice approvals, contractor queries, and project updates arrive throughout the day, often requiring quick decisions. The challenge isn't recognising phishing emails in isolation. It's distinguishing malicious messages from hundreds of legitimate communications that look almost identical.
Attacks targeting construction firms frequently impersonate familiar suppliers or project partners, constructing messages that mirror the pace and format of genuine operational communications. A convincing invoice request from what appears to be a trusted contractor, or a delivery update requiring urgent action, can bypass the instincts of employees who would otherwise be suspicious.
When the expectation is that things move fast, the instinct to pause and verify weakens.
This supply chain exposure is compounded by the distributed nature of construction work. Employees access drawings, project documentation, and communications from multiple sites, while subcontractors and external partners, who may have very different security practices, often share access to the same systems and project data.
Why Generic Training Misses the Mark in Construction
Most awareness platforms send the same phishing simulation to everyone. A site manager coordinating deliveries, a finance team member processing supplier invoices, and a procurement lead handling contractor bids all receive the same generic template, even though they face meaningfully different threats.
That mismatch matters because the most convincing attacks are the ones that look like normal work. A simulation built around a corporate IT helpdesk request tells a site manager very little about the supplier impersonation attempt they are likely to receive. Training that doesn't reflect the specific communications employees handle in their role is training for a threat they are unlikely to face, while leaving them unprepared for the ones they will.
In conversations with IT managers across the sector, awareness training is frequently described as generic, infrequent, and difficult to sustain. The firms that run phishing simulations manually report spending disproportionate time on setup and follow-up relative to the outcome.
Annual modules tick a compliance box and are largely forgotten. The result is a workforce that receives training in name, but is not genuinely better prepared.
The Administration Problem for Construction IT Teams
Construction IT teams are typically small and stretched across infrastructure, device management, and support across multiple sites. Building, running, and maintaining a security awareness programme on top of that, managing campaigns, segmenting users, chasing non-completers, generating reports, is rarely sustainable in practice.
The instinct many IT managers in the sector describe is to concentrate resource on backup and recovery. If a breach occurs, the priority is restoring operations. That is a rational response to limited capacity. But with ransomware downtime in construction now averaging 24 days, well beyond what most projects can absorb, prevention that runs without adding to the IT workload is a more effective use of the same resource5.
A Different Approach to Security Awareness in Construction
Practice from Pistachio delivers security awareness training that changes employee behaviour. Rather than relying on generic corporate phishing templates, Practice is designed to reflect the supplier, contractor, and project communications construction teams deal with every day. It integrates natively with Microsoft and deploys in under 10 minutes, with phishing simulations and training scenarios running automatically from there:
Role-specific scenarios. Simulations reflect the supplier impersonation, invoice fraud, and project-related social engineering attacks construction teams face, tailored by role rather than sent generically to everyone.
Adaptive difficulty. Training adjusts automatically based on individual performance, so every employee is challenged at the right level without manual segmentation.
No ongoing administration. No campaigns to build, no non-completers to chase, no templates to maintain. The programme runs continuously without consuming IT resource to sustain it.
Reporting built in. Compliance documentation for government contracts and regulatory requirements is available on demand.
Most firms are fully deployed in under 10 minutes using Microsoft Entra, with phishing simulations and training running automatically from then on.
Construction does not have a cybersecurity awareness problem. It has a training relevance problem. Employees are being trained to spot phishing attacks they are unlikely to receive, while the attacks they are likely to receive go largely unaddressed.
As supply chains become more connected and attacks more targeted, the firms that improve their resilience will not be those that run more training. They will be the ones running the right training.
See how Practice fits the realities of construction. Email contact@pistachioapp.com to book your 15-minute demo.
Engineering News-Record, citing ransomware data, September 2025.↩
ReliaQuest, Threat Landscape Report: Construction Industry 2024.↩
QBE European Operations, From Blueprints to Breaches (2025).↩
QBE European Operations, From Blueprints to Breaches (2025).↩
QBE European Operations, From Blueprints to Breaches (2025).↩
We believe in a learn-by-doing approach over snooze-worthy videos.
Instead, Pistachio tailors real-world scenarios so your team can build their cyber skills in a safe environment.
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“We lacked confidence that employees would recognise today’s phishing threats or respond correctly. Since using the Pistachio platform, they are more attentive and proactive in identifying potential risks. The solution is easy to manage, quick to implement, and highly effective.
“The platform is easy to implement and provides clear insights into employee phishing awareness. Its bite-sized learning encourages participation, saves administration time, and allows us to focus more on real threat detection.”
“We were looking for a practical way to improve cybersecurity awareness across the organization. Pistachio made training simple and engaging, and we’ve seen a noticeable improvement in employee awareness with minimal effort.”
“Pistachio removed the burden of planning campaigns, collecting data, and evaluating results. The program challenges each employee at their own level and provides clear, simple reporting. Pistachio has streamlined our awareness training and strengthened our organization’s cybersecurity.”
“Our goal was to help employees better recognize phishing emails and avoid malicious links. Pistachio made this easy and engaging, and we’ve seen a clear improvement in detection, fewer clicks on phishing links, and reduced data disclosure. With minimal ongoing maintenance, it’s an effective and low-effort solution.”
“Within weeks, Presence had flagged several incidents that could have otherwise been missed, including employees forwarding company data to personal accounts during offboarding. The alerts are reliable and actionable, so we've built a full investigation process around them. Although I was skeptical at first, the value was obvious almost immediately.”
“Pistachio has reduced our manual workload to zero with its automated phishing simulations and in‑box delivery of scenario‑based trainings. This has allowed our team to dedicate time to other important security initiatives while Pistachio handles our Security Awareness program seamlessly.”
“Presence automatically detects suspicious behaviour and gives us the visibility we need without constant manual oversight. Within the first few weeks we were already seeing alerts that would have otherwise gone unnoticed as the system learns what is usual and unusual behaviour for our environment.”
“Before Pistachio, security awareness was something we could only offer to a few customers. Today it’s part of every managed service we deliver, and we haven’t had to grow the team to make that happen.”
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