TISAX Employee Awareness Training for Automotive Teams

TISAX security awareness training teaches staff to protect automotive information, recognise threats and report concerns promptly. Your training program needs role-specific content, regular reinforcement and evidence that employees understand their responsibilities.

Automotive customers share designs, test results, prototype material and commercial information across complex supplier relationships. Protecting that information depends on consistent decisions in offices, engineering environments and production sites.

Start by connecting training to the information your organisation handles and the requirements within its assessment scope.

What TISAX employee awareness training must achieve

Connect awareness to automotive assessment requirements

TISAX is the Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange, operated by the ENX Association. It uses the VDA Information Security Assessment catalogue, commonly called VDA ISA.

The ENX TISAX overview explains its assessment and result-sharing model. TISAX produces assessment results and labels, rather than ISO-style certification.

Training should reflect your selected objectives, including applicable information security, data protection and prototype protection requirements. Include employees, temporary staff and relevant contractors. Our guidance on defining your TISAX assessment scope explains why supporting functions and shared services matter.

Understand the relationship with ISO 27001

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 provides a management-system foundation. Annex A.6.3 addresses information security awareness, education and training for employees and relevant interested parties.

Annex A controls aren't universally mandatory. Organisations determine necessary controls through risk treatment and justify their applicability in the Statement of Applicability.

An existing ISO 27001 training programme can support compliance training for relevant obligations. It still needs automotive-specific content, customer obligations and evidence that the relevant people understand local procedures.

Core topics automotive teams need to understand

Phishing, identity and social engineering

Cover suspicious attachments, unexpected file-sharing invitations, impersonation, telephone scams and QR-code credential scams. Employees need to recognise how social engineering uses pressure, secrecy and requests that bypass established approval processes.

Password safety training should address unique credentials, approved password managers and the rule against sharing accounts. Explain MFA fatigue: repeated approval requests can be an attempt to gain access. Staff should reject and report unexpected prompts.

For Microsoft 365 users, demonstrate your configured Outlook method for reporting suspicious emails. Practise phishing awareness by spotting a fake sign-in page and reporting it. Teach staff to use trusted bookmarks or approved access routes for Microsoft sign-in. A familiar logo or padlock alone doesn't establish legitimacy.

Employees are a first line of defence against attacks that exploit trust. Make reporting straightforward, including when someone has already clicked.

Sensitive information, physical security and remote work

Explain how to classify, store, share, retain and dispose of engineering drawings, test data, customer information and personal data. Project files and unreleased vehicle images can contain sensitive data even when no personal data is visible.

Address approved file-sharing platforms, recipient permissions, removable media and unauthorised uploads to public AI tools. Make customer restrictions clear at project level.

Prototype protection training needs clear rules for photography, visitors, secure storage, transport and access to restricted areas. Staff should know how to protect unreleased vehicle images.

Remote workers need guidance on managed devices, approved connections, screen privacy, printing and lost equipment. Give everyone a reporting route for suspected disclosure, missing material and unusual system activity.

Make training relevant to each automotive role

Engineering, production and project teams

Role-based training gives engineering, production, finance, IT, HR and leadership instruction tied to their responsibilities.

Engineering teams need practical instruction on CAD access, design-file transfers, supplier collaboration and customer confidentiality restrictions.

Production and maintenance personnel need guidance on shared terminals, removable media and authorised remote support. They should know how to escalate an unfamiliar device or unexpected connection request without disrupting safety-critical operations.

Project-specific employee training should cover information classification, approved storage, authorised participants and customer reporting contacts. New projects can introduce obligations that general induction won't cover.

Make training accessible across shifts and languages. Brief supervisor-led sessions can support employees who don't regularly use email or a learning platform.

Finance, leadership and privileged support

Finance teams need payment-diversion scenarios, supplier bank-detail verification and independent approval procedures. Executives need targeted spear-phishing and impersonation training.

IT help desks should practise identity verification before password resets, MFA changes or account recovery. HR teams need clear onboarding, role-change and departure responsibilities.

Assign cybersecurity awareness training to an accountable security owner or vCISO, with HR and operational managers responsible for participation. Leadership should approve resources and review unresolved gaps to support a consistent security culture, rather than delegate the entire programme to IT.

Set a practical training cadence

TISAX doesn't prescribe a universal monthly schedule for security awareness training. Treat ongoing training as a risk-led cycle, with frequency based on your risks, workforce, incidents and customer obligations.

Timing	Training activity
Onboarding	Complete baseline training before handling sensitive information independently.
First 30 to 60 days	Introduce a phishing simulation after initial instruction.
Annually	Deliver a 20 to 30-minute foundation course covering current policies and risks.
Monthly	Provide a focused five to ten-minute lesson and proportionate phishing simulations.
After relevant changes	Update staff following incidents, new threats, systems or customer requirements.

Adapt this schedule for production shifts, leave, contractor access and operational constraints. Monthly activity can include a short briefing rather than another formal course.

Review content at least annually and whenever new risks emerge. Retain the revised material and approval date.

  A published training calendar shows intention. Dated participation records and follow-up actions show whether the programme operated.  

Keep evidence that supports a TISAX assessment

Assessors need more than a presentation and an organisation-wide completion percentage. Prepare an approved training plan, defined audiences, assigned responsibilities and dated, per-person completion records.

Your register should connect each person to their role, assigned modules, content version, completion date and assessment outcome. Record overdue training, exceptions, reminders and corrective action.

Keep copies of the content delivered, review approvals, awareness messages and simulation follow-up. Attendance sheets can support classroom delivery where individual participation is identifiable.

Common gaps include induction-only training, excluded contractors, outdated material and no reinforcement between courses. Missing individual records also make it difficult to establish who received relevant instruction.

During assessment interviews, employees should be able to explain how they protect confidential information, follow access rules and report incidents. Training records should match those operational expectations.

The ENX participant handbook describes the wider assessment process. Our TISAX evidence checklist connects awareness records with other operational evidence.

Records retained for ISO 27001 auditing can support preparation, but they don't automatically demonstrate every automotive-specific requirement.

Measure behaviour alongside completion

Completion rates show coverage. They don't establish behavior change or whether employees recognise threats and respond correctly.

Use a small set of consistent measures:

• Phishing report rate measures the proportion of delivered simulations reported through the approved channel.

• Failure rate records defined unsafe actions, such as opening a simulated malicious link or submitting credentials.

• Time-to-report measures how quickly recipients raise a concern after receiving a simulation.

• Repeat failures identify people or groups needing additional support across comparable exercises, helping teams understand human risk.

Define each calculation before comparing phishing simulation metrics. A harder simulation can increase failures without indicating weaker awareness.

Automatically enrol employees who fail simulations into relevant remediation training where your platform supports it. Retain dated completion records and assess behavior change over time. Keep the response supportive rather than punitive.

Key takeaways for security leaders

• Align training with assessment scope, customer information and applicable prototype protection requirements.

• Combine onboarding, short refreshers and role-based scenarios with accessible reporting procedures.

• Retain individual evidence and measure reporting behaviour alongside completion.

Awareness training supports device management, endpoint protection, access control, patching and secure offboarding. It doesn't replace those controls.

Frequently asked questions

Does every employee need the same TISAX training?

Everyone within the relevant training population needs an appropriate baseline. Additional instruction should reflect access, responsibilities and exposure.

An engineer handling unreleased designs needs different scenarios from a finance employee approving supplier payments. Contractors also need instruction relevant to their work.

Can one programme support several security frameworks?

Shared content can support ISO 27001 and CMMC obligations, while ISO 42001 work introduces AI-related competence and awareness needs.

Keep framework-specific requirements and evidence mappings distinct. Our comparison of ISO 27001, TISAX and CMMC explains why these frameworks aren't interchangeable. ISO 27001 consultancy can help align common governance without overlooking separate obligations.

How can smaller suppliers control training costs?

Start with approved internal procedures, short briefings and existing learning or collaboration tools. Prioritise employees handling sensitive customer information and higher-risk transactions.

A dedicated platform can simplify assignments and records, but ownership, relevant content and reliable follow-up remain essential.

Build awareness into everyday automotive work

An effective TISAX programme connects security requirements with the decisions people make at work. Clear responsibilities and reliable evidence give leadership a stronger basis for assessment readiness.

Our TISAX consultancy helps organisations connect training with operational controls and assessment preparation.

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