Phishing Awareness Training| IRONSCALES

What is Phishing Awareness Training

There is no one silver bullet to solving the phishing problem. As email security tools continue to improve over time, attackers will just evolve their methods. Though employees are more aware than ever of what to watch out for in their email due to training and testing, the realities of a fast-paced, distraction-filled modern workplace means they’ll almost certainly continue to click when they shouldn’t. Only through a combination of self-learning tools, evolving awareness education and improved employee vigilance can companies make noticeable improvement in the fight against phishing.

Phishing awareness training educates employees on how to spot, report, and avoid common email threats. Methods of training can include videos, animations, exercises and corporate phishing testing campaigns to see if employees can identify simulated attacks. The overuse of any one particular method can have adverse effects on employee performance and morale, so a dynamic and varied approach to training methods is ideal.

Phishing awareness training is an essential element to a robust email security program and is a must for companies who want to address email security seriously.

Click rates on phishing emails
attacks range from 6% to 16%,
depending on the industry.

Phishing Training Challenges

Employees truly are the last line of defense against email-based attacks. Unless your company invests in advanced and consistent phishing training, you likely are not doing enough to prepare your vulnerable employees. Yet, creating an effective phishing campaign can create strain on security teams and facilitators.

<p dir="ltr">Several <a href="https://ironscales.com/report/osterman-survey/">Osterman Research</a> surveys have found that many users do not receive sufficiently frequent training with regard to security issues.</p>

Several Osterman Research surveys have found that many users do not receive sufficiently frequent training with regard to security issues.

<p>Creating a contextually relevant and effective phishing awareness campaign can be time-consuming for administrators.  They are tasked with choosing relevant content for their industry and generating original ideas and examples that go beyond the rote, oft-repeated ones.</p>

Creating a contextually relevant and effective phishing awareness campaign can be time-consuming for administrators. They are tasked with choosing relevant content for their industry and generating original ideas and examples that go beyond the rote, oft-repeated ones.

<p>Most phishing trainings only offer prefabricated or one-size-fits-all training templates rather than real-world simulations that are timely and targeted to your organization’s specific employees and goals.</p>

Most phishing trainings only offer prefabricated or one-size-fits-all training templates rather than real-world simulations that are timely and targeted to your organization’s specific employees and goals.

<p>Conversely, administrators with access to a video and content libraries may have too much content to sort through to efficiently and effectively create a campaign. Admins need access to quality, timely resources, yet they are often inundated with options.</p>

Conversely, administrators with access to a video and content libraries may have too much content to sort through to efficiently and effectively create a campaign. Admins need access to quality, timely resources, yet they are often inundated with options.

<p>Many companies stop at a basic training for employees that doesn’t provide advanced phishing protection education to help employees identify and mitigate more complex threats, such as socially engineered attacks and business email compromise (BEC)</p>

Many companies stop at a basic training for employees that doesn’t provide advanced phishing protection education to help employees identify and mitigate more complex threats, such as socially engineered attacks and business email compromise (BEC)

<p>Even with adequate training, researchers at the USINEX SOUPs conference found <a href="https://www.usenix.org/system/files/soups2020-reinheimer_0.pdf">many employees forget the lessons after 6 months</a>. This means many employees lack the ability to identify and report sophisticated threats, leaving your company at risk.</p>

Even with adequate training, researchers at the USINEX SOUPs conference found many employees forget the lessons after 6 months. This means many employees lack the ability to identify and report sophisticated threats, leaving your company at risk.

How to Make Your Phishing Training Effective

A multi-layered approach that is geared towards your employees needs can help you reduce phishing click rates while also helping your security team to improve their ability to detect threats.. This approach should also take your admins into account, as they need resources that enable them to automate the tedious portions of launching a phishing awareness campaign. This ensures phishing prevention will become part of your company culture, rather than a one-time event.

1. Simplify Campaign Creation and Launch

Easily create campaigns and get access to high-quality training videos, from a variety of world class awareness training partners
Leverage AI- powered systems that align content with user awareness levels
Automate campaign creation to free up security teams’ time and resources

2. Personalize Your Approach

Assess individual users’ phishing recognition skills to determine the level and amount of training they need.
Set employees on a personalized training path.
Graduate users to higher levels as they gain proficiency.

3. Collect And Leverage Metrics

Track individual and organizational progress.
Use data to highlight progress and to identify potential risks or weak links

4. Provide Real-world
Simulations and Video Training

Include real-world examples to prepare employees for the most deceptive and effective social engineering tactics.
Leveraging human awareness is a key tactic for catching suspicious emails missed by technical controls.

1. Simplify Campaign Creation and Launch

Easily create campaigns and get access to high-quality training videos, from a variety of world class awareness training partners
Leverage AI- powered systems that align content with user awareness levels
Automate campaign creation to free up security teams’ time and resources

2. Personalize Your Approach

Assess individual users’ phishing recognition skills to determine the level and amount of training they need.
Set employees on a personalized training path.
Graduate users to higher levels as they gain proficiency.

3. Collect And Leverage Metrics

Track individual and organizational progress.
Use data to highlight progress and to identify potential risks or weak links

4. Provide Real-world
Simulations and Video Training

Include real-world examples to prepare employees for the most deceptive and effective social engineering tactics.
Leveraging human awareness is a key tactic for catching suspicious emails missed by technical controls.

Upgrade Your Phishing Training With IRONSCALES

IRONSCALES is committed to providing a single, unified email security solution that combines the best of artificial and human intelligence, while delivering a robust set of training features.

Our multi-level, employee-tailored campaigns deliver measurable results through a strong focus on engagement and relevance. Unique employee scoring means you’re able to prioritize champion reporters within our system while also identifying potential risks or weak links. We think the best phishing training uses real-world simulations that are timely and targeted.

Our training leverages premium content including Ninjio, Habitu8, Cyber Maniacs, and more.

The IRONSCALES platform can help you boost phishing awareness, smishing, reduce click rates on suspicious emails, and improve detection rates using our report button. Request a demo today.

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