Why copying some vendors’ email notifications in phishing tests can backfire

Some vendors’ confusing notifications make easy phishing tests, but that doesn’t mean you should use them.

Replicating these easy tests will only create an adversarial relationship between employees and the IT Security team.

Yes, attackers who know you use will impersonate them. But replicating them in a phishing test doesn’t address the root problem, and just annoys people to the point of rebellion.

Here’s an analogy:

Imagine a battlefield where you’re in a ground force that happens to have poor security of their own messaging. Attackers can easily send spoofed messages to the front lines that impersonate their commanders.

Should you test the soldiers’ ability to authenticate the incoming messages at the front line by sending them fake, test messages to see if they spot them? Or should you fix the security of your army’s messaging protocol? 

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

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The answer is to fix the root problem: the army’s messaging protocol, or in the security world, your organization’s cyber security training strategy.

Scott Wright is CEO of Click Armor, the gamified simulation platform that helps businesses avoid breaches by engaging employees to improve their proficiency in making decisions for cyber security risk and corporate compliance. He has over 20 years of cyber security coaching experience and was creator of the Honey Stick Project for Smartphones as a demonstration in measuring human vulnerabilities.