Careless clicking on emails from an unknown source, confidential documents going to the communal printer, unguarded handling of passwords, unlocked screens when leaving the office - many companies contend with such inattentiveness from their staff.

Lafarge Asia Sdn. Bhd., a division of the leading global building-materials manufacturer, has therefore launched the "IT Information Security Awareness Programme" (ITAP) campaign. Around 8,000 employees will receive training developed by IMC.

One particular challenge was the different learning cultures in the relevant Lafarge regions within Asia. Whilst Chinese employees attach great importance to written information, Indian and Philippine representatives cherish verbal exchange in group discussions. Other nations, on the other hand, accept both forms of teaching, but, for the most part, have to be motivated to share their experiences with others. It is exactly this point that IMC has addressed.

"We have devised a multi-level concept in order to include all those involved", explains Dr. Kathrin Bergenthal, Director of Content Services at IMC. "In a half-day face-to-face training session, Lafarge employees were informed about the background of the campaign; they had the opportunity to test the game, debate selected security issues in a group setting, and then discuss the results. Thus, everyone gained access to the learning objective."

Interest was particularly strong in the DIN A2 "Jungle Game", in which two to six players play using a dice. In total, 100 questions on IT security are formulated on quiz and duel cards. Five points are gained for each correct answer; the winner is the person who is the first to collect twenty points or gold coins. "The approach of packing technical issues into an emotional game has proved very successful for achieving the learning objectives", clarifies Bergenthal.

The game has been released in the original English version, but also in Japanese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, as well as Mandarin. "We have tackled the technical challenges with a lot of creativity, and thereby the intercultural differences of the target groups are taken into consideration in a methodical and didactic manner in such a way that the overall concept can be applied throughout the entire Asian region".