3 Tools for Phishing Attack Simulations

Phishing attacks have emerged as one of the leading types of cyberattacks today. These social engineering tactics trick innocent victims into turning over sensitive or even confidential information. Phishing is becoming increasingly common, therefore requiring organizations to bolster their cybersecurity posture and prevent attacks from happening in the first place.

A Basic Overview of Phishing

As mentioned above, phishing attacks are social engineering tactics cybercriminals use to target individuals through email communications. Threat actors will often impersonate or disguise themselves as someone of importance, such as someone’s boss, an executive at the victim’s company or someone from a well-known, reputable organization.

Cybercriminals will also embed malware and spyware into phishing messages to try and lure the victim into clicking on the malicious attachment or link.

You’ve probably received at least one phishing email or text message before. The most famous example is when the “prince” of a king from another country begs you to send money overseas. This is nothing more than a scam, but some people fall for it.

What is a Phishing Simulation?

A phishing simulation, as its name suggests, simulates a phishing scam and targets employees in an organization to see if they can identify a potential scam. 

Companies will purposely send deceptive spam emails to their employees with the hope that they can flag it and avoid clicking on any suspicious or malicious links.

A phishing simulation test gauges employee awareness of cybersecurity practices. Without proper training, an employee may fall victim to phishing more easily than if they received adequate cybersecurity training. 

Though most phishing attacks are somewhat easy to detect, employees are still highly susceptible to phishing attacks, sometimes costing their companies hundreds of thousands of dollars or massive quantities of stolen data.

Tools to Run Phishing Attack Simulations

Because so many companies want to run these phishing simulation tests within their organization, it’s no surprise that top cybersecurity vendors offer simulation services. Here are X tools for phishing attack simulations companies can use to test employees’ awareness of potential phishing scams.

1. Mimecast

Mimecast is a leading cybersecurity company dedicated to helping companies boost the strength of their cybersecurity programs. According to the company’s official website, it takes less than 10 minutes to set up one of their phishing simulations. Instead of waiting for a potential attack to occur, organizations can work with Mimecast to set up phishing simulations and prepare for phishing, spyware or ransomware attacks and remain protected.

2. KnowB4

Another leading cybersecurity company offering phishing simulation tests is KnowB4. This company is a well-known player in the cybersecurity awareness sector. One of the best features of KnowB4 is PhishFlip, a program that allows companies to create an effective phishing simulation using a real phishing message.

3. Proofpoint

With ProofPoint’s phishing attack simulations, companies can mimic real-world attacks to see if employees would fall victim to a cybercriminal’s phishing attempt. The tool is integrated with ProofPoint’s Security Awareness Solution and provides thousands of templates to companies looking to run phishing attack simulations.

Protect You and Your Company Using Tools for Phishing Attack Simulations

As you can see, there are numerous tools for phishing attack simulations that companies can leverage to learn about their employees’ cyber hygiene. It’s critical for company leaders to understand how much their employees know about phishing and if they have the knowledge to prevent attacks. Organizations big and small should consider using phishing simulation tools to protect their employees and keep their business running smoothly.