AAdi!: training cybersecurity for the age of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is also transforming the way social engineering attacks are designed and carried out. The ability to generate increasingly convincing synthetic content — text, images, voice, documents and video — is creating new challenges for cybersecurity and, particularly, for people's ability to identify warning signs and make appropriate decisions.

Against this backdrop, CIFP Ciudad Jardín LHII has started developing AAdi! — Zibersegurtasuna Adimen Artifizialaren garaian, a new innovation project focused on training students to detect and respond to social engineering situations generated or enhanced through artificial intelligence.

AAdi! will be a gamified simulation and learning environment where students can face simulated cybersecurity situations in a safe and controlled setting.

The project is led by CIFP Ciudad Jardín LHII and involves CIFP Txurdinaga LHII, IES Francisco de Vitoria BHI, CIFP IMH LHII and CIFP Zubieta LHII / CIFP Usurbil LHII.

A simulation that adapts to each learner

One of the project's main innovations will be an architecture based on the orchestration of locally executed artificial intelligence agents.

These agents will be able to generate attack scenarios adapted to each user's professional profile and learning context.

The platform will work with different channels and formats:

• text;
• voice;
• images;
• documents;
• video.

This means that students will not only practise against traditional phishing, but also against multimodal social engineering scenarios that are closer to situations they may encounter in professional environments.

The simulation will be dynamic. The system will analyse the user's decisions and responses and will be able to adjust the difficulty of subsequent scenarios according to the performance demonstrated.

The aim is to allow each participant to progress from initial situations to increasingly complex scenarios while developing the practical ability to analyse, question and verify information.

Learning from the attack: the Tutor Agent

After each interaction, the Tutor Agent will provide an immediate debriefing.

It will help identify warning signs that were missed, explain the social engineering techniques used in the scenario and provide practical guidance for improving responses to similar situations.

In this way, AAdi! does not simply present a challenge: it turns every interaction into an opportunity for learning and reflection.

Local AI and data sovereignty

Another distinctive feature of the project will be its commitment to local execution of artificial intelligence agents.

Using its own infrastructure will make it possible to process the data and content generated during the exercises within a controlled environment, strengthening privacy, data sovereignty and control over the technological infrastructure.

This approach will also allow Vocational Education and Training to explore new ways of using artificial intelligence responsibly and in line with the needs of educational and professional environments.

A transferable approach for different professional fields

AAdi! is designed to evolve and transfer its scenarios to different professional contexts.

Although cybersecurity is at the heart of the project, simulated situations can be adapted to areas such as IT, administration, healthcare, industrial environments and other professional fields.

The aim is to develop an increasingly important transversal skill: being able to detect, question and respond appropriately to potentially malicious information in digital environments.

At CIFP Ciudad Jardín LHII, this innovation line connects directly with our Specialisation Courses in strategic technologies:

• Artificial Intelligence and Big Data
• Application Development with Python
• Cybersecurity in IT Environments

The centre's current offer includes these specialisation pathways within the Information Technology and Communications professional field.

AAdi! represents another step in this direction: using artificial intelligence itself to train the human capabilities needed to interact with it safely.

The best defence is trained too. And in VET, we want to train it with the technology that will shape the future.

Participating centres

• CIFP Ciudad Jardín LHII
• CIFP Txurdinaga LHII
• IES Francisco de Vitoria BHI
• CIFP IMH LHII / IMH Campus
• CIFP Zubieta LHII / CIFP Usurbil LHII