Unlike data hacking, which can occur without an employee’s direct involvement, phishing requires the user’s compliance. Phishing, also known as email fraud, is a socially engineered strategy to gain access to valuable corporate data by tricking employees into clicking on malicious links or submitting their credentials.
Studies have shown that the number of phishing sites skyrocketed by a factor of ten from 2020 to 2023. Despite a slight decline since then, phishing remains the most successful strategy for data hackers to gain access to valuable company information.
Due to the employees’ complicit involvement in the scheme, phishing cannot be prevented entirely through technical security measures. Modern systems deploy phishing simulations to help employees understand the strategies and consequences of phishing and prepare them for real-world attempts. With preemptive cyber awareness, employees can help businesses protect their networks from the inside.
What is Phishing?
“Phishing” is an umbrella term that refers to digital social fraud committed by hackers and bad actors to gain access to a company’s data network. Phishing schemes use fake pages such as emails, social media messages, login pages, and other online forms to trick employees into clicking on malicious links or submitting their login credentials or other confidential employee information.
In the age of generative AI, applications such as ChatGPT have made these phishing forms easier to generate and more convincing than ever before. These pages can masquerade as company emails or posts and obtain valuable information without the employee’s knowledge.
In 2023, studies showed that over 1 in 10 employees had clicked on a malicious link in a phishing email in the last year. Additionally, employees at smaller organizations, or those with fewer than 100 users, were disproportionately affected, with nearly 13% of all employees in this category clicking on links or offering confidential passwords to phishers.
While technical measures can be taken to secure a data network from direct hacking attempts, phishing presents a more complex problem. Employee email addresses, social media accounts, and other online contact points cannot be secured entirely in today’s digital environment. Directive employee training offers users more intuition in spotting and reporting these threats to their growing operational and social networks.
What is Phishing Simulation Training?
Modern security infrastructure can offer employee training initiatives to prepare employees for real-world phishing attempts. This training simulates an actual phishing attempt using prevalent phishing methods, including bulk phishing, which attempts to target a broad group of users, and spear phishing, which targets a specific high-value individual.
Regardless of the method, phishing simulation training reinforces the most common phishing strategies, the employee’s risk level, and the best actions to take when confronted with a real phisher. As there are multiple types of phishing, training should cover all bases to prepare employees for these scams.
Companies are turning to simulations rather than traditional learning methods because practical training is the best defense against the everyday threat of phishing. As mentioned, when confronted with an unexpected and convincing scam, over 10% of employees still fall for the latest tricks, costing their organizations valuable user data and client trust.
Measure the Results of Phishing Simulation Training
By creating a convincing phishing simulation, system administrators can determine which employees or departments are most at risk. After these employees click on the simulated link in the email or submit their user credentials, they should be informed about the dangers they pose to themselves and their organization in a supportive yet straightforward way.
Companies can refine their training methods by repeating these simulations and monitoring the results. They can determine which departments or individuals require additional training, which phishing strategies are most effective on their workforce, and what security measures are needed to fill the gaps in their information workflows.
Advanced security systems allow businesses to customize their phishing simulation training resources to the needs of their workforce. For example, as mobile devices have become common corporate network integrations, phishers have created new phishing strategies to exploit unsuspecting users. The simulations should be adjusted to account for them.
Technical security measures cannot catch every malware download, suspicious link, or fraudulent online form. Employee awareness through actionable training is modern companies’ best defense against ever-evolving phishing scams.
Consult a Professional Cybersecurity Firm for Employee Security Awareness Training
Phishing is a scam technique to access valuable employee user credentials and identifying information. Emails, online forms, and social media posts can be generated to trick employees into clicking on malicious links under the guise of official company communications.
While technical security measures can block malware or detect suspicious log-ins, these systems cannot prevent employees from willingly entering their information on fraudulent forms, emails, and posts.
Businesses that deploy phishing simulation training can increase their team’s cyber awareness by delivering authentic phishing tests that help employees understand the consequences of phishing and detect real scams before they become costly data leaks.
At Advantage.Tech, our cybersecurity and consulting team has advised over 800 businesses in numerous industries on improving their security architecture to combat modern threats such as phishing.
Contact us today to learn how phishing simulations can be integrated into your employee training workflows to prepare for one of the most common hacking methods facing modern companies.
