How To Run An Effective Phishing Simulation Program

Learn how to implement an effective phishing simulation program to train employees about cybersecurity threats. This blog post covers how to set up an effective phishing simulation program, including phishing education, setting simulation goals, selecting realistic scenarios, creating credible tests, and reviewing response rates to strengthen defense against growing phishing threats.

As phishing threats grow, with Verizon's 2023 DBIR revealing that 36% of all data breaches involve phishing, implementing an effective phishing simulation program is important to prevent social engineering attacks. Well-designed and regularly conducted phishing security tests teach employees for how to recognize and avoid dangerous phishing attacks on organizations.

Phishing simulation programs are essential for enhancing organizational cybersecurity; however, if not executed effectively, they can introduce significant risks. Key concerns include:

In Q1 2023, direct financial losses from cyber incidents, including those stemming from inadequate phishing simulations, amounted to $5.8 million—a 66.3% increase from the previous quarter.

A 2023 survey revealed that organizations in the business services, consulting, and telecommunications sectors experienced a 12% failure rate in phishing simulations, indicating substantial vulnerabilities that could lead to operational disruptions.

In 2017, Dublin Zoo suffered a €500,000 loss due to a phishing scam, highlighting the reputational risks organizations face when phishing simulations fail to mitigate real-world threats.

These examples underscore the critical importance of implementing effective phishing simulation programs to safeguard against financial, operational, and reputational risks.

5 Steps to Run An Effective Phishing Simulation Program

Step 1 - Introduce Phishing Education

Before running any simulations, conduct organizational-wide phishing education through seminars, courses, and onboarding training. Teach employees how to recognize phishing indicators such as suspicious links, spoofed domains, grammatical errors, urgent threats that necessitate immediate password changes, and contact information mismatches. Make sure employees understand the protocols, such as alerting IT to verify legitimacy. We have a series of free tip sheets and a security awareness training tool available to assist you with this.

Step 2 - Set And Define Explicit Goals

Define the specific learning objectives you hope to achieve from the phishing simulation, such as assessing department vulnerability, evaluating overall response rates, identifying security awareness knowledge gaps, and comparing improvements to previous tests. Consider whether you will transparently notify all employees ahead of time or keep it a secret to see how they naturally react. If informing employees, specify the exact reporting procedures to be followed if they suspect a test phishing attempt.

Step 3 - Choose Realistic Scenarios

Research common phishing emails in your industry to create scenarios that accurately reflect potential threats to your organization. Spoof vendor invoices with fake payment site links, impersonate HR notifications with malware attachments, spoof executive requests for W2 data, and so on. We offer phishing email templates in a variety of categories for modeling.

Step 4 - Craft Credible Phishing Simulation Tests

Match the email's language and links to the phishing template to ensure overall credibility. For example, if you're impersonating IT and alerting employees to an attempted network hacking incident, provide a convincing IT ticket number, incident report links that lead to a simulation landing page, etc. Staff would detect a variety of details in real attacks, such as sender address spelling errors or domain inconsistencies.

Step 5 - Evaluate Employee Response

Analyse simulation response rates, keeping track of which departments, individuals, and schemes produced the most victims so that future education can be tailored accordingly. Establish methods for tracking simulation exposure vs. training comprehension over time. Provide additional phishing identification resources and cybersecurity training to users in need of improvement.

How to Launch Phishing Simulation Using Top Brands?

Phishing tests with popular brands are important for cybersecurity training. They imitate real attackers' methods. These simulations enhance awareness and fine-tune individuals' ability to detect and respond to sophisticated phishing attempts.

Using a brand in security awareness training is important because:

1. Incorporating familiar brands into training scenarios makes the learning experience more realistic. People interact with these brands daily, enhancing their engagement and attention.
2. Testing individuals with simulated phishing attempts that mimic trusted brands evaluates their ability to identify fraudulent communications, a technique frequently exploited by cybercriminals.
3. The inclusion of well-known brands in cybersecurity education improves memory retention. Familiarizing these brands helps embed cybersecurity lessons more deeply in learners' minds.
4. Using popular brands in simulated attacks helps to keep the training current and applicable. This allows for demonstrating common tactics used by hackers in real-life situations.
5. Practicing with well-known brands helps people get ready for real threats. This boosts their confidence and skills in stopping security breaches.

Using Top Brands: Phish or not to Phish?

The verdict is in: Continue with your phishing simulations.

Do not let fear or misinformation deter you. Keeping your network informed is essential, whether they're colleagues, friends, or family. Educate them about bad guys’ daily use of trusted brands in their phishing schemes. By teaching them to recognize and reject these deceitful tactics, they're not just safeguarding themselves.

Each lesson learned from a simulation is a step towards a more secure environment for everyone involved. So, despite potential obstacles, pressing on with phishing simulations is both valuable and necessary.

Using the top brand you also protect that brand against scams!

Phishing Simulation Checklist

Below, we have put together a step-by-step checklist that you can use to follow this guide:

Get Started With Keepnet Labs Today

Everything listed above is what Keepnet Labs specializes in. We can assist you with employee education and setting up a variety of phishing simulations. To ensure continuous improvement, we constantly update our practices and platform.

We’d also like to highlight our Phishing Simulation Platform. This tool assists businesses in simulating realistic phishing attacks, providing a practical method for testing and training employee responsiveness in a real-world setting. It is a necessary supplement to the theoretical security training provided by the Awareness Educator.

Please see our YouTube video below and see how our phishing simulation works:

Editor's Note: This blog was updated on December 5, 2024.