Phishing Simulation
A phishing simulation is a cybersecurity exercise that tests an organization’s ability to recognize and respond to a phishing attack. this attack is a fraudulent email, text or voice message designed to trick people into downloading malware, revealing sensitive information (such as usernames, passwords or credit card details) or sending money to the wrong people.
During a phishing simulation, employees receive simulated phishing emails (or texts or phone calls) that mimic real-world phishing attempts. The messages employ the same social engineering tactics (e.g., impersonating someone the recipient knows or trusts, creating a sense of urgency) to gain the trust of the recipient and manipulate them into taking ill-advised action. The only difference is that recipients who take the bait (e.g., clicking a malicious link, downloading a malicious attachment, entering information into a fraudulent landing page, or processing a fake invoice) simply fail the test, without adverse impact to the organization.
In some cases, employees who click on the mock malicious link are brought to a landing page indicating that they fell prey to a simulated phishing attack, with information on how to better spot phishing scams and other cyberattacks in the future. After the simulation, organizations also receive metrics on employee click rates and often follow up with additional phishing awareness training.
How do phishing simulations work?
Phishing tests are usually part of broader security awareness training led by IT departments or security teams. The process generally involves five steps.
1. Planning: Organizations begin by defining their objectives and setting the scope, deciding which type of phishing emails to use and the frequency of simulations. They also determine the target audience, including segmenting specific groups or departments and, often, executives.
2. Drafting: After forming a plan, security teams create realistic mock phishing emails that closely resemble real phishing threats, often modeled on phishing templates and phishing kits available on the dark web. They pay close attention to details like subject lines, sender addresses and content to make realistic phishing simulations. They also include social engineering tactics—even impersonating (or ‘spoofing’) an executive or fellow employee as the sender—to increase the likelihood that employees click the emails.
3. Sending: Once they finalize the content, IT teams or outside vendors send simulated phishing emails to the target audience through secure means, with privacy in mind.
4. Monitoring: After sending the mock malicious emails, leaders closely track and record how employees interact with the simulated emails, monitoring if they click on links, download attachments, or provide sensitive information.
5. Analyzing and reporting: Following the phishing test, IT leaders analyze the data from the simulation to determine trends like click rates and security vulnerabilities. Afterward, they follow up with employees who failed the simulation with immediate feedback, explaining how they could’ve properly identified the phishing attempt and how to avoid real attacks in the future.
Once they complete these steps, many organizations compile a comprehensive report summarizing the outcomes of the phishing simulation to share with relevant stakeholders. Some also use insights to improve upon their security awareness training before repeating the process regularly to enhance cybersecurity awareness and stay ahead of evolving cyber threats.
