Skip to main content
Skillrung

Protecting your sensitive data: what you actually have to defend

A computer can be replaced in a day; the files, the correspondence and the information entrusted to you cannot. Protecting therefore starts with naming: for each item, ask what happens if it becomes public, if someone alters it without you noticing, if you lose access for a week. The inventory of what lives outside your work tool fits in five lines and describes your real exposure.

  • Written by Skillrung team
  • Review by a subject-matter expert under way
  • Updated on
Read the first 4 slides, freePlay the Discovery quiz, free

What is this course about?

Name what you have to protect, understand who targets it and why, in a quarter of an hour.

This is a core course: the material taught is the same for everyone, only the examples, the tools mentioned and the people you deal with change with your job. It has 3 sections, of which 1 section is followed by a quiz, and reads in 20-30 min. The legal framework cited is French law.

The first threat arrives by message, not through a security hole

A message imitating your bank or a supplier lands in your inbox. In 2025, phishing was the leading threat reported to Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, the French government's cyber-assistance service, across every type of victim, up 70%. This is not primarily an IT problem: it is a decision taken in a few seconds, between two tasks, in the everyday routine of your structure. Behind that click: your données personnelles, and that is exactly what this course teaches you to protect.

Key points

The three checks before you click

Run them on any message that asks you to act, whether it seems to come from your collègues et partenaires or from your logiciel métier.

  • The sender's real address, never the name displayed on screen
  • The link's real address, revealed by hovering or a long press
  • The nature of the request: urgency, money, credentials or an unexpected attachment
  • At the slightest doubt, check through another channel you already know

What you will be able to do

  • Assess your real exposure and learn the three checks to run before you click.
  • Name your sensitive data and understand who targets it and why.
  • Leave with three habits you can apply to your sensitive data.

The first 4 slides, free

What you read with no account and no card. Here, the generic version; in the player, the examples take the vocabulary of your job.

Try it, before you even create an account

Choose a job: the passage below is rewritten straight away. Nothing is saved, and no extra content opens.

No job selected: the generic version is being shown.

Generic version
A message imitating your bank or a supplier lands in your inbox. In 2025, phishing was the leading threat reported to Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, the French government's cyber-assistance service, across every type of victim, up 70%. This is not primarily an IT problem: it is a decision taken in a few seconds, between two tasks, in the everyday routine of your structure. Behind that click: your données personnelles, and that is exactly what this course teaches you to protect.

Real extract from the free slide “The first threat arrives by message, not through a security hole” of this course.

  1. FreeSlide 1 of 13 · Why cybersecurity concerns you directly

    The first threat arrives by message, not through a security hole

    A message imitating your bank or a supplier lands in your inbox. In 2025, phishing was the leading threat reported to Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, the French government's cyber-assistance service, across every type of victim, up 70%. This is not primarily an IT problem: it is a decision taken in a few seconds, between two tasks, in the everyday routine of your structure. Behind that click: your données personnelles, and that is exactly what this course teaches you to protect.

  2. FreeSlide 2 of 13 · Why cybersecurity concerns you directly

    What you will be able to do at the end

    • Spot a trap message in under thirty seconds
    • Protect your accounts with a passphrase and a second factor
    • React and raise the alert after an incident at your structure
  3. FreeSlide 3 of 13 · Why cybersecurity concerns you directly

    The three checks before you click

    Run them on any message that asks you to act, whether it seems to come from your collègues et partenaires or from your logiciel métier.

    • The sender's real address, never the name displayed on screen
    • The link's real address, revealed by hovering or a long press
    • The nature of the request: urgency, money, credentials or an unexpected attachment
    • At the slightest doubt, check through another channel you already know
  4. FreeSlide 4 of 13 · Why cybersecurity concerns you directly

    Where do you stand?

    One question to place your level, drawn from your everyday work rather than from theory.

    1 short questions, marked immediately, inside the course.

These 4 slides can be read in the player, with no account and no card.

Read the first slide

Programme

3 sections, 13 slides and 4 quizzes in total. Each content section ends with a quiz that checks it has been learned.

  1. IntroductionFree

    Why cybersecurity concerns you directly

    Assess your real exposure and learn the three checks to run before you click.

    • 4 slides
  2. SectionSubscribers

    What you really have to protect

    Name your sensitive data and understand who targets it and why.

    • 7 slides
    • Section quiz: 5 questions
  3. RecapSubscribers

    Your action plan

    Leave with three habits you can apply to your sensitive data.

    • 2 slides

9 slides are for subscribers

The first four slides of this course can be read without an account and without a bank card. From the fifth on, the €29.99/month incl. VAT subscription is needed. The Beginner level quiz, though, stays free: it measures your level without asking you for anything.

Subscribe, €29.99/month incl. VATPlay the Discovery quiz, free

How your level is measured

  • Beginner
    Questions drawn
    10
    Pass mark
    70 %
    Question bank
    ≥ 30
    Time limit
    20 min

    Free, no account and no subscription.

  • Intermediate
    Questions drawn
    12
    Pass mark
    75 %
    Question bank
    ≥ 36
    Time limit
    24 min

    Subscribers only, once the Beginner level is passed.

  • Expert
    Questions drawn
    15
    Pass mark
    80 %
    Question bank
    ≥ 45
    Time limit
    30 min

    Subscribers only, once the Intermediate level is passed.

The level shown for a course is the highest level you have passed, with your best score and its date. Questions are drawn at random on every attempt. Play the Beginner quiz for this course or read how we measure your level.

Which jobs is it for?

Common core: the examples change with your job, what is taught stays the same. It addresses all 58 jobs in the directory. See courses by job.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need technical knowledge to take this course?

No. Everything is explained through everyday actions: reading a message, choosing a password, plugging in a drive, calling the right person. No command line, no setting reserved for an IT department. The examples adapt to the job you indicate.

My organisation is very small: am I really a target?

Yes. The vast majority of attacks target no one in particular: they cast a wide net and exploit whatever opens. A small organisation is often more exposed, for lack of an IT department and a verified backup.

How does this course fit into the theme?

It is one step of the Cybersecurity theme. Each course is short and self-contained; the theme exam measures your level across all of them and issues a personal certificate.

What can I read without a subscription?

The first four slides of every course are available without an account and without a subscription, as is the Beginner level quiz. From the fifth slide onwards, the €29.99/month incl. VAT subscription is required. Creating a free account unlocks no extra slide: it keeps your progress, your job and your results.

How is my level measured?

By three level quizzes: Beginner (10 questions, 70 % to pass), Intermediate (12 questions, 75 %) and Expert (15 questions, 80 %). The level shown is the highest level passed, with the best score obtained and its date.

Who writes and who reviews this course

  • Skillrung team

    Editorial team of skillrung.com

    The skillrung editorial team writes the courses from the publications of the French and European authorities: ANSSI, CNIL, Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, Légifrance and EUR-Lex. Every figure is tied to its primary source, dated and verifiable from the course page. The team does not stand in for an expert reviewer: every course intended for publication is reviewed by a named professional of the field concerned, whose name and review date appear on the course page.

Artificial intelligence assisted the drafting. Editorial responsibility for the published text remains human.

Statements with regulatory scope verified on .

Sources

Every figure stated in this course points to a primary source, dated and verifiable.

  1. Rapport d'activité et état de la menace 2025

    Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, published on

  2. Panorama de la cybermenace 2025

    ANSSI, published on

What Skillrung is not

  • Skillrung is not a French training body certified under the Qualiopi scheme.
  • As things stand, our content is not eligible for the French CPF, OPCO, DPC or FAF funding schemes.
  • A Skillrung certificate of completion is not a diploma, not a professional title and not a qualification registered in any national register. It records a result obtained in an unsupervised online assessment, on a given date.
  • Taking a Skillrung course does not make your organisation compliant and does not replace the obligations that fall on your employer or on you.
  • Our content is educational. It is neither legal advice, nor medical advice, nor a security audit.
  • For a self-employed professional or a company, the subscription is a deductible business expense : confirm this with your accountant.

Same topic

The other cybersecurity courses

See the whole catalogueOur method

Keep going on Skillrung

The pages that follow on from this one, in the recommended order.