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Phishing Simulation Tool

Phishing is a social engineering threat used to target Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and other businesses by sending fraudulent emails, text messages, or telephone calls. It can be a sophisticated and targeted scam method where an impersonator pretends to be a legitimate authority or institution to lure employees into providing sensitive data and financial information. The data is later sold on darknet markets or used in identity fraud, a network compromise, or used to further additional social engineering attacks.

When targeting your business online, the common arsenal used by cybercriminals includes malicious software, macros, or websites. Phishing emails usually contain a URL link to click where users are then encouraged to enter their corporate credentials or download a malicious file.

Once a user clicks on these files or links, the user is compelled to install a malicious Trojan horse, keylogger, or ransomware on their corporate computer to potentially gain control of it or give them access to network data. Cyber-criminals involved in phishing and social engineering that install malware will blackmail the targeted organization into paying ransom money to regain access to their corporate computer, servers, or the entire network.

While many businesses have no option but to pay the money, it does not guarantee that they will get access back to their infrastructure and data. Even if they do gain back their access, most cyber-criminals take copies of the data and threaten to publicly post a portion of it in an effort to destroy brand loyalty and trust. Blackmail is often used to extort the ransom out of corporations, and many organizations pay the ransom to avoid additional litigation and brand damage.

To reduce the risk of being a victim of phishing, a trusted phishing simulation tool can help. The simulation will not only help prepare any company against any potential risks, threats, and scams but also educate employees on the dangers and red flags prominent with a sophisticated phishing scam.

Did You Know?

92% drop

in phishing susceptibility with SafeTitan

62%

of employees share passwords

$10.5 trillion

estimated global cybercrime cost

82%

of data breaches involved a human being

What is Phishing Simulation?

Phishing simulation protects your organization from any phishing threats and attempts by training your workers. This training educates your employees about the latest phishing threats. Moreover, it will help them identify and report potential attempts.

How does Phishing Simulation work?

Phishing simulation has the primary purpose of increasing cybersecurity awareness amongst your staff members. This is an essential measure that can help prevent your employees and organization fall into the trap. By implementing phishing simulations in your organization, you can protect your financial and sensitive data from any external and internal cyber threats.

This training will also help your staff learn how to use the latest preventive techniques. Phishing simulation allows your business to detect any social engineering threats, potential attacks, and unauthorized attempts to access your data. Furthermore, you will learn about the appropriate actions you can take to implement cybersecurity best practices.

What is a Phishing Simulation Tool?

Phishing simulation protects an organization from any phishing threats and phishing attempts by training employees, vendors, contractors, and business stakeholders to detect, avoid, and report attacks instead of falling victim to them. This training educates employees about the latest phishing threats, attacker methods, and the damage that a successful phishing attack can inflict on an organization. Phishing simulation tools turn a successful attack into a mere unsuccessful attempt.

A good phishing simulation tool mimics the exact wording and methods of a legitimate phishing attack. Usually, a tool will include a link to a web page that mimics a corporate web application. The tool logs employee usernames when they open the email, click the link, and then when they divulge sensitive data such as their credentials. All stages of the attack are logged to identify the level of training every employee needs to successfully stop a phishing threat.

How does Phishing Simulation work?

Every employee has different security knowledge, but some have no ability to detect a phishing attack at all. To identify training opportunities, a phishing simulation tool will determine employees’ vulnerability to attacks. It also increases cybersecurity awareness amongst anyone with corporate data access, which is the ultimate goal for cyber-criminals using a phishing attack to steal it. This is an essential measure that can help prevent your employees and organization fall into the trap. By implementing phishing simulations in your organization, you can protect your financial and sensitive data from any external and internal cyber threats.

This training will also help your staff learn how to use the latest preventive techniques. Phishing simulation allows your business to detect any social engineering threats, potential attacks, and unauthorized attempts to access your data. Furthermore, you will learn about the appropriate actions you can take to implement cybersecurity best practices.

A phishing simulation tool is an excellent preventive measure that can help any business, irrespective of its size and industry. If your organization handles customer data, financial transactions, or sensitive information, a phishing attack simulation tool ensures that employees have the training necessary to protect their data while also directly protecting the corporate brand reputation.

Remember, all it takes is just one employee to click on a phishing email link and divulge sensitive data, and you can face the devastating consequences of phishing attacks. Over 90% of data breaches are a result of successful phishing attacks, so organizations should have phishing education as one of their primary cybersecurity strategies. Educating employees and anyone with access to internal resources is a proven way to help reduce the risks of a data breach from a phishing attack.

A phishing simulation tool ensures that everyone in an organization receives training for email-based attacks with an additional layer of social engineering education. Every person, from an administrative employee behind a computer screen to the company’s CEO, must receive the same level of training for phishing protection to be effective. The knowledge will help them identify suspicious messages and activity when dealing with day-to-day correspondences in emails.

Why is a Phishing Simulation Tool Important?

As of 2022, a phishing attack reportedly costs organizations up to $4.91 million, up from $4.65 million in 2021 and costs continue to increase. In addition to email-based phishing attacks, emails are the primary medium cyber-criminals use to deliver 94% of malware. Therefore, it’s imperative for all concerned parties to learn how to recognize suspicious email messages and flag and report any suspicious threats to a designated security administrator.

Taking a reactive approach to cybersecurity is no longer sufficient to protect corporate data. By educating employees and contractors on the importance of data protection and recognizing a phishing attack, corporations take a proactive approach by empowering staff members to recognize common warning signs.

Reinforcing Best Practices

A phishing simulation tool sends out regular training email messages to a list of employees, vendors, executives, and contractors. It tests all recipients on their ability to recognize a phishing attack and do the necessary next steps outlined in the organization’s cybersecurity policies. Phishing simulation exercises educate employees to learn how to identify threats and avoid real-life phishing attempts.

As administrators continue to train staff members occasionally throughout the year, phishing simulation tools teach them to slow down and consider the message and its request when interacting with emails. Employees learn to pay attention to details, such as identifying the sender or checking if an attachment or link is from legitimate sources.

Creating a Team of Cyber-Defenders

A phishing simulation tool helps train employees to be cyber-defenders. Cybersecurity and data protection are collaborative strategies where everyone within an organization must be a team to recognize attacks and do what’s necessary to stop them. Having all staff members on board with a cybersecurity strategy is a helpful aid, as all your staff members will be well-versed in recognizing phishing threats and reporting them to prevent any damage to the company's data and reputation.

Some of the common benefits of a phishing attack simulation tool are:

  • A phishing attack simulation tool manages training schedules. The tool builds and launches training campaigns, produces and shares statistic reports, and provides insights on the effectiveness of phishing education for every employee.

  • For any MSPs, a phishing simulation tool provides statistics from the simulation exercise and gathers data on users when they click a link and divulge sensitive data. This insight will help you understand your employees’ preparedness to deal with phishing attacks.

  • As employees grow aware of the latest phishing trends and how to identify them, an organization becomes better at avoiding those threats.

Over 90% of data breaches are a result of successful phishing attacks.

What Makes a Good Phishing Attack Simulation Tool?

The phishing simulation tool exposes your employees to fake phishing emails in a controlled environment and observes how they react to these threats. The messages are crafted to intentionally mimic a real-world phishing attack, which better prepares employees for the inevitable. A well-designed tool allows organizations to combine phishing tests and training in order to gauge the alertness and effectiveness of the organization’s current cybersecurity awareness training. After running a simulation, organizations can determine if their current cybersecurity awareness training must be revised to help employees better understand phishing and the proper procedures to report suspicious messages.

SafeTitan has all the necessary requirements to help employees and administrators fight phishing. It’s a fully automated phishing simulation tool with thousands of templates to choose from. As more threats are released, SafeTitan automatically updates its library of templates. It’s a sophisticated tool that uses behavioral-driven security awareness.

Easy to Use

The SafeTitan solution is the perfect phishing simulation tool that is not only easy to install but learn as well. It’s highly customizable, and it can easily integrate into your organization's existing infrastructure.

Cloud-based Security Solution

SafeTitan is the best-in-class cloud-based cybersecurity solution. The platform will not only deliver multilayered cybersecurity solutions but also prevent employees from falling prey to phishing or other cyber scams.

AI-driven Security Protocols

The email phishing protection feature in SafeTitan is purely AI-driven and promises zero-day threat intelligence. No matter the sophistication of any ransomware threat, the solution can detect threats and protect any organization's data and network resources. The cybersecurity awareness training prepares employees and turns them into a first line of defense against phishing attacks.

Email Data Protection (EDP)

SafeTitan also comes with a built-in feature of email data protection (EDP). This allows administrators to archive and encrypt emails and confidential data enclosed within the messages. This way, even if an unauthorized person manages to gain access, they will not be able to steal or abuse your data.

EDP is critical because emails are the primary tools cyber-criminals use to defraud companies. To help with EDP initiatives, cybersecurity protocols must have a tool to automate threat detection and block any malicious and downloadable links and content from ending in your employee email inboxes.

How MSPs Can Help Their Clients Run Simulated Phishing Campaigns

1. Identify the Scope and Objectives of the Campaign

This involves determining the goals of the campaign, the target audience, and the specific behaviors the client wants to be changed.

For example, to reduce the number of employees who click on suspicious links in emails, you may choose to focus on employees in high-risk departments such as finance or human resources. The objective can also be to increase general awareness about new phishing tactics across the clients’ organizations.

2. Set Metrics to Measure Success

Define metrics to measure the success of the campaign. For example, you may measure the number of employees who clicked on a phishing email or the number of employees who reported the email to the IT department.

3. Consider the Relevance of the Phishing Emails and Their Difficulty-Levels

Decide how difficult phishing emails will be to detect. You may start with relatively easy phishing emails and gradually increase the difficulty to keep employees engaged and challenged. Also, ensure the contents of the simulated phishing emails are relevant to the clients (more on that later).

4. Create a Schedule Based on the Frequency and Duration of the Campaign

Determine how often the campaign needs to be run and for how long. For example, you may run the campaign quarterly or annually, or continuously throughout the year. Then, create a schedule that outlines the timing and frequency of the simulated phishing campaigns. The plan should align with the phishing awareness training activities.

5. Recruit Potential "Phishers"

As MSPs delivering phishing awareness training and simulated phishing, you may want to impersonate a high-level executive or other trusted individuals within the company. Recruit an executive who is willing to be impersonated.

6. Communicate Well

Ensure employees know why the simulated phishing campaign is running. They should understand that the exercise is not meant to be punitive but rather an opportunity to learn how to better spot and report malicious emails. It's also important to reassure employees that the campaign is being conducted with senior leadership's full knowledge and support.

7. Track Performance and Provide Feedback to Employees

After the simulated phishing campaign, MSPs should provide feedback to employees on their performance. By analyzing employee responses to simulated phishing emails, you can identify areas that need more attention. Train employees accordingly.

8. Evaluate Effectiveness, Demonstrate ROI, and Adjust the Training Program

By showing clients the percentage of employees who reported the simulated phishing email versus those who did not recognize it, MSPs can demonstrate the effectiveness of their training programs and justify the cost of the service. Tracking progress can also help MSPs adjust their training programs to ensure they are providing the right type and level of training to their clients.

Hear from our Customers

One of the best awareness training tools.

One of the best awareness training tools I have seen and used. One of the benefits that I loved was the fact that I did not have to make any change to my current environment to get the software running, as everything is Cloud based. For us it was really important that the solution catered for more than just phishing.

Paul P.

CEO

SafeTitan is the tool to use.

If you are looking for a diverse cybersecurity training platform, then look no further, SafeTitan is the tool to use. With the simple ease-of-use, I can set up my whole year of security training in a day or two, and know that it will execute without fail. We should have used this a long time ago.

John D.

Software Enginner

SafeTitan reduces security risks.

SafeTitan reduces security risks by creating end-user awareness of critical security threats such as phishing emails. It can tailor the training specific to the employee’s needs, rather than training the whole organization. Reporting employee security training is perfect for compliance requirements.

Marie T.

CEO

A great all round product

Comments: Its a good product for the price, easy to use and setup. Its a low upkeep product, once its setup and you have scheduled in your training campaigns, its all automatic from there.

Lewis

IT Technician

Easy to use and at a great price point!

Comments: Our overall experience with SafeTtian has been excellent! The tool provides our organization and customers with the tools required to combat cyber threats. Pros: In today’s cyber environment and proliferation of cyber threats, all SafeTitan’s features are impactful and help prepare our users and customers for the challenges facing all organizations from threat actors. The product was easy to setup and integrate into our operations. Cons: There is really nothing to dislike about SafeTitan and the product is continually being improved. If we ever have a question or issue, support is immediate and first class!

Thomas

Manager

Ensuring Phishing Simulation Content is Relevant

MSPs can take several steps to ensure that the contents of their phishing simulation emails are relevant to their clients.

Reviewing the Past

By reviewing any past phishing attacks that their clients have experienced, or drawing insights from the nature of phishing attacks targeted to the client’s industry vertical, MSPs can analyze tactics and techniques used by the attackers. This can help them create realistic phishing emails that mimic the same types of attacks that their clients are likely to face.

Understanding the Client's Business

Having a deep understanding of the client's business operations, including their industry, size, and typical communication patterns can enable MSPs to create phishing emails that are typical of what they may receive in the event of a real phishing attack.

Using Client-specific Information

MSPs can make their phishing emails more relevant to their clients by using client-specific information, such as the names of their executives, the company's branding, or specific details about recent projects or events. This can make the emails seem more convincing and increase the chances that employees will engage with them.

Conducting Risk Assessments

Risk assessment can help identify the most likely threat actors and attack vectors clients may face.

Getting Clients’ Feedback

MSPs should solicit client feedback to ensure that phishing emails are relevant and effective. This can help them refine their simulated phishing campaign approach and create more effective phishing simulations.

How SafeTitan’s Phishing Simulation Tool Plays into the Equation

MSPs need to look no further than SafeTitan’s fully re-brandable enterprise-grade security awareness training and phishing simulation.

The solution enables streamlined email creation, customization, campaign scheduling, and management. It packs 1.8k phishing templates, 80+ videos, training sessions, and webinars that are updated regularly. Alongside housing powerful phishing simulation analysis and reporting capabilities, SafeTitan’s phishing simulation tool can readily make relevant educational resources and training modules available to users.

The solution also has mass campaign and training features which allow MSP’s easily roll out simulated phishing training across their clientele.

If you're an MSP looking for a phishing simulation tool, SafeTitan by TitanHQ is an excellent option. You can book a free SafeTitan demo to see how it works and how it can help protect your business from emerging phishing threats and cyber scams.

Free Demo with SafeTitan

For any organization in need of a sophisticated phishing simulation tool, SafeTitan by TitanHQ can help. Want to learn how SafeTitan's security awareness training can help protect your business from emerging phishing threats and cyber scams? Book a Free SafeTitan Demo to see it in action. You will be able to see SafeTitan’s user-friendly UI in real-time. With our expert present, ask any questions you may have regarding the protection of your MSP business.

Geraldine Hunt

Geraldine Hunt

  • SECURITY AWARENESS TRAINING

Talk to our Team today

Talk to our Team today

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a Smishing Simulation Tool?

To test an employee’s ability to detect malicious text messages, a smishing simulation tool sends a real-world phishing message to all employee smartphones. It identifies users who tap the embedded link and provide sensitive information on the landing page including their corporate network credentials, financial information, or their personally identifiable information (PII).

How Does a Phishing Attack Simulation Tool Work?

To provide accurate and actionable advice to users, a phishing attack simulation tool uses templates from real-world phishing threats and tests employee security awareness training. Every time an email is opened, the employee’s username is logged. Employees clicking malicious links or divulging sensitive data including network credentials are reported for further security awareness training reviews.

What is an Attack Simulator Phishing Tool?

An attack simulator phishing tool uses real-world threats that look and feel like a true phishing email to trick employees into divulging sensitive information or downloading malware. The tool is harmless to network security, but the system logs user activity to determine which employees are vulnerable to a phishing scam.

What Features are Included in Phishing Simulation Software?

Organizations must find phishing simulation software that offers several reporting features and continually updates with the latest phishing templates. Reporting features show stakeholders any employees vulnerable to a phishing attack, and the phishing templates are real-world attacks that can be used to help with employee security awareness training and delivery.

Should I Use Phishing Simulation Tools?

Any organization concerned with phishing should consider testing their employees for any training gaps. Phishing simulation tools test all employees on the network for their ability to identify and stop a phishing attack. Organizations should use a phishing simulation tool to proactively train employees to identify real-world threats.

Does a Phishing Campaign Tool Help with Security?

Phishing is one of the biggest threats to data protection, so organizations can incorporate a phishing campaign tool to help with security awareness training. Showing employees real-world phishing campaigns gives them the ability to detect an actual cyber event using a malicious email message to convince them to divulge sensitive information.

What Does a Phishing Simulation Tool Do?

A phishing simulation tool takes a template from a real-world phishing event and uses it to send all employees within an organization an email message. All employees tricked by the phishing campaign are logged into a reporting system where stakeholders can review employees vulnerable to email-based threats and provide them with additional security awareness training.

What are the Best Phishing Campaign Tools?

The SafeTitan phishing campaign tool is a well-rated, proven solution for organizations concerned about phishing and social engineering. SafeTitan offers a wide range of phishing templates, reporting features, gamification, and behavior-driven training. Stay compliant and give employees the necessary knowledge to stop email-based threats using the SafeTitan security awareness training.

What Features do Phishing Campaign Tools Have?

Every phishing campaign tool has its own features, but organizations must have the right ones to deliver worthwhile security awareness training to employees. Phishing campaign tools have numerous templates to give employees a wide range of real-world threat identification, reporting features for stakeholders to review, and behavior-driven results based on employee actions.

What is a Phishing Email Tool?

Most data breaches start with a phishing email, so a phishing email tool simulates a real-world phishing event and logs any interactivity with it. Organizations use a phishing email tool to test their employees for their ability to identify a phishing email message and report it rather than divulge sensitive information.