English abstract
Nowadays, social engineering is indicated as the most important method used for hacking.
This method has increasingly become more popular since most countries adopted digital
transformation. The purpose of this study was to investigate Omani society's awareness
of social engineering techniques in light of digital transformation for government services
in the Sultanate of Oman. This awareness was measured in a sample of employees and
students at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences by distributing a questionnaire
designed for this purpose. This study provided a theoretical framework for the concept of social
engineering in the field of information security and clarified the techniques and methods used in
penetration testing using this type. The concept of digital transformation was clarified and some
international statistics about the Sultanate of Oman in this field were given. Later, the results
and analysis of the questionnaire were reviewed and discussed, with recommendations and
suggestions to reduce social engineering. The results of the study indicate poor awareness of
some aspects of security breaches that occur through social engineering. Moreover, some
practices and behaviors of individuals while using digital government services are present
in this study that expose them to hacking easily, with some challenges to awareness of the
seriousness of social engineering. This in turn leads governments and organizations to increase
security awareness at the level of individuals and
institutions so that the digital transformation
is capable of facing cyber security threats and
setting appropriate security policies to address
them.
