Many businesses use security software such as anti-virus, anti-malware, firewalls, and email filters. But these services do not address the biggest cybersecurity vulnerability – your end-users. They are much easier to hack than machines and software.
Many end-users cannot tell fake emails from legitimate ones. These people tend to trust familiar people and vendors. Also, they typically click on email content without inspecting the contents. Hackers know this and trick people into sending confidential data, such as passwords and account numbers. They use this information to steal money, identities, and data.
Consider running simulated phishing campaigns on your employees. These tests supercharge your existing security stack by addressing the human error cause of security breaches. According to the Ponemon Institute, real-time phishing simulations are proven to double employee awareness retention rates and a near 40% ROI versus more traditional cybersecurity training tactics.
SMS Datacenter can help your business phish your employees. We provide template emails with common phishing themes, such as package tracking, fake promotions, and password resets. Each email will have a spoofed sender name, misspelled email addresses, and a request to click on a link or attachment. These emails link to landing pages that can include pretend warning pages, short videos, and training courses. SMS and your decision-makers can analyze the phishing campaign results, such as the number of email opens, clicks, replies, and spam reports. Then, we can make recommendations, such as sending more phishing emails, creating more specific department campaigns, and providing more in-depth training to repeat offenders.
By using simulated phishing campaigns on your employees, your company can:
- Prevent the theft of money and data
- Assess employee security knowledge, sentiment, and behavior
- Identify risky individuals and departments
- Improve employee awareness of phishing emails
- Adopt the latest cybercriminals attack techniques
- Turn employees into proactive defenders
- Test the strength of other security controls. For example, firewalls, anti-virus, and email filters.
- Reinforce industry compliance efforts
Tips for launching a phishing simulation email campaign:
- Let your employees know your company will start doing these tests
- Provide training on spotting phishing emails before sending out the campaigns. For example, they should be careful of clicking on links and downloading attachments.
- Ensure they report phishing emails if they get them.
- Explain the impact phishing emails have on the organization.
- Provide positive reinforcement for users that do not fall for phishing emails. For example, you can gamify the effort and provide rewards, such as free lunches and gift cards.
- For users that interact with the email, focus more on training them and less on punishing them.
- Show users how they could have identified the phishing attack.
- Keep the training modules for phished employees short. It should be less than five minutes and focus on the topic they need to know about. This will ensure people will pay attention to the content.
- After each phishing email, send a follow-up email and explain why your business sent that specific email.
- Think about expanding training to include other phishing attack methods (phone calls, texting, USBs).
For more information about our simulated phishing campaigns as part of our IT Security, you can contact us by calling 949-223-9240 or emailing [email protected].