ChatGuard: A Python-Based Fake Chat Application to Detect Social Engineering Behaviour in Shared Computing Environments

Social engineering is one of the least considered yet highly critical types of cyber-attacks, especially in shared environments such as computer labs, libraries, and schools. While technical threats tend to focus on systems, social engineering leads people to disclose sensitive information inadvertently. To address this issue and foster a cybersecurity culture, a fake chat application is available, known as ChatGuard, written in a simple programming language using the Tkinter framework. It pretends to be a chat interface, secretly serving as a honeypot to identify and record any suspicious user activity based on predefined or custom keywords, such as 'password', 'OTP', or 'admin'. The software can be used as an educational tool in an Outcome-Based Education (OBE) environment, allowing students to learn and simulate basic human-target cyberattacks. It will enable role-playing, keyword substitution, and log-based tracking, promoting both technical and ethical awareness. Supposed to be run as an offline program, for personal use, on your favorite shared servers to mimic phishing attacks during training or awareness sessions. Furthermore, this paper correlates Course Outcomes (COs) with appropriate Program Outcomes (POs), including a range of skills in GUI programming, file I/O (input/output), user studies, and cybersecurity ethics. ChatGuard also encourages students to apply their basic programming knowledge responsibly, with an emphasis on the responsible use of software. With its ease of use, flexibility, and moral guidance, it provides an excellent learning resource for understanding and developing thinking around social engineering risks.