Chris Lawrence is a journalist and chief editor at Wlan Labs. He has been writing about technology for more than ten years. He writes about everything ranging from privacy to open source software. His goal is to educate readers about important topics to help make their lives easier.
Phishing is one of the biggest reasons that data breaches occur within organizations worldwide. These attacks are unique because they target the way that humans communicate and exploit them.
The best way to safeguard an organization from these phishing attacks is to educate your employees so that they understand what phishing is and how to react to or report it.
There are a ton of fantastic phishing awareness programs out there which is good because they are the main reason that phishing attacks have dropped over the last few years.
Technology is an ever-evolving thing and cybercriminals are right there helping it adapt by making phishing attacks more malicious and the messages harder for both humans and machines to spot. Phishing tends to target a large number of recipients at any one time.
Their primary purpose is to trick people into clicking on a URL that will take them to a webpage that will usually ask for personal information.
These phishing scams will usually impersonate someone trusted like an internet company, or your bank and then ask for sensitive information. But there are usually things that you can look out for that will tell you whether an email is real or fraudulent.
This article will help you by going over some of the best phishing awareness training solutions out there.
These training solutions are usually designed to help transform employees into a line of defense against phishing attacks by teaching them what to look out for and how to handle these scams.
ESET Cybersecurity Awareness Training
Help your colleagues learn how to stay secure when they’re working from home with comprehensive premium and free online training from ESET.
This phishing awareness training solution is a market-leading cybersecurity provider which offers a full and comprehensive security platform that is being used by companies worldwide.
This cybersecurity training program will include gamified training modules that are up-to-date as well as phishing simulators, user testing, robust management and finally, the ability to report from an admin console.
The interactive phishing awareness training that ESET offers is great because it can be finished on-demand and done at the user’s pace.
The content you will see is likely to include real-life scenarios, gamification, role-playing, quizzes and best of all, organizations that are doing this program can upload their own content and make their own quizzes and customize the content already by adding their brand or company logo.
In general, the training and tools that ESET offers are quite easy for admins and users to get their hands on.
It is straightforward and fast to implement, which is a huge plus with things like this. You can also import users while also having the ability to pick whether you want to sync Active Directory or manage via CSV.
The training available is super easy to access and will only take about ninety minutes to complete. That fact alone makes this training best suited for organizations that are looking for phishing awareness training that is short and informative.
This program is recommended to just about any organization in any industry. This is because the phishing template library has templates that will suit a wide range of companies including finance, banking, healthcare and many others.
On top of that, this training program will be best suited for organizations that are based in the US.
Hook Security PsySec Security Awareness Training
This phishing awareness training solution has two programs that make up its content. They are as follows:
- Essentials
- Deep Dives
Essentials is a program which comes up every year and will cover general topics which the employees of a corporation should have at least a general knowledge of.
For the most part, the essentials program will cover the importance of password security, phishing, and work-from-home cybersecurity.
Deep dives is a monthly program that will help to make topics that are more complex and difficult to understand accessible.
In order to achieve this, they have created scenario-based learning modal as well as entertaining narratives which employees will get monthly in a single video.
This video will go over one security topic in detail in a way that is immersive and easier to learn and understand, even for those of us that are not inclined to understand technical topics.
Hook Security will test its users by submitting them to real-life customizable phishing simulations. The system is set up so that if someone were to react to this simulation incorrectly they would be taken back to the landing page.
This will tell them that they have made a mistake and how they should have responded to a situation like that.
Admins will be able to see the employees that are not doing so well and which ones would need more training.
All of this should be accessible through a management console that only the admins can access. API reports from this system will be able to be integrated with existing SOCs and dashboards to make your life easier.
Hook Security has a fantastic automation system behind its simulation and reporting tools which is very user-friendly.
It has been designed to meet CMMC and NIST compliance standards, which is everything that a good training platform should have. This program would suit SMBs and enterprises that are looking to help their employees be more capable when they are accessing cyberspace.
Safe Titan
This phishing awareness training solution used to be named Cyber Risk Aware until they changed its name to Safe Titan.
This training platform was designed to help organizations train their employees in the following:
- Cybersecurity
- IT Policy
- Compliance Training
This phishing awareness training solution would work well for large organizations that are looking to test how effective their security awareness training is.
It is also suitable for MSPs that have the desire to introduce a strong SAT platform to their product offering in order to help their SMB clients mitigate cyber risk.
Safe Titan has plenty of engaging content that you will be able to simulate that can be customized. On top of that they offer a just-in-time training course that will allow admins to monitor and manage through one portal that is super easy to use and understand.
This phishing awareness training solution is best to use and set up. On top of that, it has integrations with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and several other single sign-on solutions that are popular with big organizations.
It has enterprise-grade training available which can work exceptionally well for large businesses or SMBs through TitanHQ’s broad MSP community. Safe Titan also has the ability to measure how effective the training is so organizations can see what is working for their employees.
Phished
This phishing awareness solution specializes in teaching its users to spot and report email threats. This can include phishing, SMiShing, and CEO fraud.
Phished’s program merges AI-driven automated phishing simulations with training that focuses on educating users on the topic.
This method of teaching gives users a point-in-time learning experience that helps to prepare them to be able to react to the new cyber threats that are around in today’s day and age.
Phished has robust reporting tools that will make it so that administrators are able to view the state of security on each of their employees’ devices and also assign training to those that need it.
There are over a thousand organizations worldwide that are reliant on Phished in order to train their employees on this particular cyber threat.
It is a well-known phishing awareness training solution that is invaluable when you have the goal of training your employees on how to react to this type of threat.
Phished is extremely simple to deploy and can easily be set up in just about any email client. This includes Google Workspace, Outlook and several others.
The users that are on Phished will be able to be onboarded manually using a .csv file or through an Active Directory Integration.
Many of the companies that use Phished have found that the powerful reporting functionality is a step above the rest and they particularly love the fact that this feature can be used to let them know which employees need more training.
This phishing awareness training solution is ideal for organizations that want an intuitive method of delivery that will prepare and train their employees to identify and report phishing threats within an organization.
Proof Point
This phishing training awareness solution is a global market leader that focuses on email security as well as security awareness training that can be brought on its own or as a package deal along with Proof Point’s technical security solutions.
Proof Point, which was at one time named Wombat Security, has a wide range of modules that are reasonably user-friendly and include several simulations.
The main ones you can see in the below list:
- SMiShing
- Phishing
- USB Testing Simulations
- Training Modules
- Knowledge Tests
The training that Proof Point offers will involve infographics, articles, posters, or videos which are then used as a way to engage users regardless of what their preferred method of learning is. This training solution creates an environment that will help just about anyone learn quite easily.
The material that Proof Point uses to engage its users is very popular because the content is designed to provide security and teach the users everything they need to know in a way that is interesting.
All the modules that are available will take about fifteen minutes to finish which means that it is easy for an organization to fit training into their employees’ day without impacting their productivity too much.
Proof Point offers its clients a multi-layered package that is chock-full of technical solutions that go perfectly with their phishing awareness training.
They use heuristic scanning technology which is a great help in protecting various systems against old threats and threats that are new and uncharted.
This includes malware and viruses as well. Proof Point has a super easy to manage training package that is perfect for any organization that wants a security awareness package that is ongoing.
There are deals that mean that this training is available as part of Proof Point’s essential package solution which gives its client industry-leading technical protection against various email security threats.
Cofense PhishMe
This phishing awareness training solution is a super effective training campaign that is designed to educate and improve how aware employees are of phishing scams.
They also teach users how to react to phishing attacks safely. On top of this training, Cofense has a technical security solution that merges the human ability to detect phishing attacks with an automated response.
This allows organizations to detect and block any threats that are detected within just a few minutes.
Due to this amazing intuitive training and fantastic security, this phishing awareness solution has been declared a leader in security awareness.
Cofense helps train its users in security awareness that allows users to be able to spot and react to phishing attacks by making them experience simulations, infographics or videos.
These simulations can be customized by the company, this means that the training experience can be aimed toward a specific shortfall of a group of people and by extension train them in a specific area they are lacking.
This phishing awareness solution merges its training with a reporter. This means that there will be a button available that employees can click when they suspect there has been a phishing attack or they have found an email that is suspicious.
Cofense combines human involvement and AI to help tell the difference between real phishing threats and false phishing alarms.
This is done through the Report Phish button which isolates any perceived threat. At this point, a security team can use the Cofense Vision Tool to find and separate any malicious emails from any user’s inbox.
This is an extremely effective protection method for just about any organization. So, Cofense is ideal for any enterprise that wants to train their employees on how phishing works and how they should report attacks and have a system in place that can react to this report.
Barracuda PhishLine
Organizations that are looking for a comprehensive range of multi-layered email, network and cloud security solutions couldn’t do much better than Barracuda PhishMe.
This phishing awareness solution has continuous simulations and training packages that are designed to teach users how to detect and defend their organization against vishing, phishing, SMiShing, or other media attacks.
This training solution is available as part of Barracuda’s complete email protection solution which will include some fantastic features.
One of these features is known as Sentinel which is an AI-based technical solution that has been designed to defend against spear phishing and account takeover viruses that might be used to compromise business emails.
Barracuda has an in-built phishing report button that employees can use when they are suspicious of emails. This button will alert the IT department of this issue which can then be dealt with.
The report button works exceptionally well alongside training as it easily ties into training employees to report phishing emails that they suspect.
This means that those that need training in this particular area will be well-prepared with the training that Barracuda has designed alongside this feature.
Barracuda’s multilingual phishing training tool is constantly being updated which means that the organizations that make use of their resources will be able to take on phishing threats even though this area of cyberattack is a constantly evolving issue.
This multilingual training can be used on its own or alongside the technical email security solutions that Barracuda also has.
Because of this Barracuda’s phishing awareness training is best suited to smaller organizations and MSPs that are on the lookout for an effective way to protect their company from phishing and other similar threats.
Inspired eLearning
This phishing awareness training solution offers enterprise security awareness and compliant training.
The product packages that Inspired eLearning offers can be customized. They use an App which means that users will be able to have access to content whenever they need it.
This phishing awareness training solution is one of the first to have training for four types of phishing methods including, vishing, SMiShing, phishing and USB baiting, all on one platform. This training program is known as PhishProof.
The Inspired eLearning PhishProof training package has the option for organizations to measure the improvements of their employees with phishing awareness.
This is done through tests and training that they provide. Admins will be able to manage and schedule simulation events that will run through templates at random.
They will also be able to customize templates so that each customer will be able to train their employees by targeting the needs of each individual.
PhishProof has a reporting system that has been built into their program, this system is known as PhishHook. It is designed to make it possible for users to report or flag messages that are suspicious.
It is also designed to alert the admin or a security team who has alerted them of a suspected phishing attack. Inspired eLearning is ideal for organizations that are searching for a comprehensive phishing awareness training system that covers all types of phishing.
If they are also looking for a solution that uses an app and has the ability to customize the training for just about any amount of people then this is a fantastic option for them.
Best of all, Inspired eLearning has a multilingual tool that will make this training accessible for employees from different countries who may have a different mother tongue.
LUCY Security
This phishing awareness training solution will allow organizations to take on the offensive and attack which then allows them to see where their weaknesses lie.
This essentially shows the organization the weaknesses in their employee’s knowledge and their infrastructure.
When weaknesses have been found, LUCY will then give the organization methods that can be used in order to fix this issue.
The security awareness training that this company offers is engaging and designed to be customizable, so employees can learn, and the company can better understand where their weaknesses are.
There are over two-hundred interactive training modules that LUCY offers within their library. This means that organizations will be able to teach their employers regardless of whether they are online or offline.
This content will be hosted by the LUCY LMS, this means that users will be able to manage their learning while admins would then be able to monitor the progress of users as it happens in real-time.
The content that LUCY offers is very customizable, this means that the videos and gamified materials will be able to be altered in order to suit the organization’s needs.
On top of having e-learning LUCY also has a safe learning environment which means that users will be put through a phishing attack simulation that is as close to real-life as possible as well as tests that will go over what the users have been learning.
The phishing simulations that LUCY provides will include the following:
- SMS
- Corporate
- Ransomware
- Spear Phishing Attacks
There are additional simulations that are covered. The admins will be able to run these simulations with a group of specific users and then assign any other training that their analytics suggests based on how the employees do.
The training that LUCY offers is engaging and relevant. It is also available in over thirty languages which adds to the easily accessible program. This company is ideal for just about any sized corporation.
Infosec IQ
This is one of the fastest-growing phishing and security awareness providers on the market today. They have excellent skills in training and certifications to go with that claim.
Infosec combines anti-phishing simulations with security awareness CBT and role-based training which is effective in teaching users to detect and deal with threats.
They offer a twelve-month program which helps employees to learn and adopt practices that will help them to become a powerful line of defense against cyber and phishing attacks that they might encounter.
Security teams can be used to build phishing campaigns that are customized. This is possible through Infosec’s wide range of templates in their library which can be used to teach employees how to deal with the most dangerous threats.
There will be new templates added to this library every week which will help the organization stay on top of threats that are adapting or new.
The training is designed so that if a user clicks on a phishing link they will be taken to a training module that goes over what they did wrong and how they can avoid this outcome in the future.
The fact that training is given right after a user makes a mistake makes it easy to learn what you did wrong and how to improve.
Infosec has a constantly growing range of training simulations that grow in diversity in order to cover a wide range of topics.
This solution is more aimed toward large enterprise companies, but Infosec has changed to be able to work well for smaller businesses as well. The range of training they offer can be scaled to fit the needs and wants of the company they are providing training for.
KnowBe4
This phishing awareness training solution is one of the best out there. They are well known for their awareness training and simulations, you can see this in their revenue and the number of customers they have every year.
KnowBe4 has designed its training to be engaging above all else. Due to this direction, they have a fantastic library that is full of quizzes, games, videos, puzzles and other materials that are designed to be engaging.
The training that Knowbe4 offers is designed for those in management and system administrators. The selection of free tools and materials that can be purchased makes training a great and customizable experience.
This means that organizations will be able to test their employees’ awareness by way of a free simulated phishing attack.
This simulation also has a report suspicion button that will be used in this simulation. The alert button is compatible with a wide range of tools including Outlook, Microsoft 365, G Suite and Exchange.
The organization that invests in KnowBe4 will also have the ability to track if employees are reporting phishing emails as they should.
This phishing awareness training solution is best suited to small or mid-sized organizations that are looking for a way to tackle the evolving threat of phishing by way of training their employees on what to look out for and what to deal with.
Final Thoughts
There are several other good phishing awareness training solutions out there besides the ones that have been covered in this article.
Phishing awareness training is essential in preparing and training employees on how to react to and report any potential phishing scams that are running.
So, make sure that you find one that works for the size of your corporation and what the goal is for your phishing training solution.
