simulated phishing
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Simulated phishing or a phishing test is where deceptive emails, similar to malicious emails, are sent by an organization to their own staff to gauge their response to
phishing Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwar ...
and similar email attacks. The emails themselves are often a form of training, but such testing is normally done in conjunction with prior training; and often followed up with more training elements. This is especially the case for those who "fail" by opening email attachments, clicking on included weblinks, or entering credentials.


Rationale

There is wide acceptance within the IT security field that technical measures alone cannot stop all malicious email attacks, and that good training of staff is necessary. Simulated phishing allows the direct measurement of staff compliance, and when run regularly, can measure progress in user behavior. Phishing simulation is recommended by various official agencies, who often provide guidelines for designing such policies. Phishing simulations are sometime compared to
fire drill A fire drill is a method of practicing how a building would be evacuated in the event of a fire or other emergencies. In most cases, the building's existing fire alarm system is activated and the building is evacuated by means of the nearest a ...
s in giving staff regular practice in correct behaviour.


Ethics

Such campaigns need to be authorised at an appropriate level and carried out professionally. If such a technique is used carelessly, it may breach laws, attract lawsuits, and antagonise or traumatise staff. However, if employees are advised of a change to policy such that "the company reserves the right to send deceptive 'simulated phishing' email to staff from time to time to gauge staff security awareness and compliance", and training and guidance has been given in advance, then such problems should not occur. Some organisations may choose to require users to give their consent by opting in, and others may allow staff the option to opt out. The standard advice is that "failing" staff not be shamed in any way, but it is appropriate and reasonable to provide supportive followup training. Some techniques which might be effective and in use by malicious actors are normally avoided in simulated phishing for ethical or legal reasons. These would include emails with content likely to cause distress to the recipient or the use of third-party trademarks, although it is also sometimes argued that this is covered by
fair use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...
.


Methods

Such testing can be done in a number of ways. * Many vendors offer web-hosted platforms to do this, and some provide limited free "test" campaigns. * A wide range of freely-available open-source tools allow more technical organisations to host and run their own testing. * Some email service now have such testing as a built-in option. Because organisations generally have a set of multi-layered defences in place to prevent actual malicious phishing, simulations often require some
whitelisting A whitelist, allowlist, or passlist is a mechanism which explicitly allows some identified entities to access a particular privilege, service, mobility, or recognition i.e. it is a list of things allowed when everything is denied by default. It is ...
to be put in place at email gateways, anti-virus software and web proxies to allow email to reach user desktops and devices and to be acted upon.


Frequency

Most advice is that testing should be done several times per year, to give staff practice in responding correctly, and to provide management feedback on the progress in staff identifying and reporting potentially dangerous email.


See also

*
Phishing Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwar ...
*
Fire drill A fire drill is a method of practicing how a building would be evacuated in the event of a fire or other emergencies. In most cases, the building's existing fire alarm system is activated and the building is evacuated by means of the nearest a ...


References

{{reflist Cybercrime Identity theft Social engineering (computer security)