Realistic phishing templates
Use ready-to-run scenarios based on common credential, finance, HR, cloud, and IT lures.
Phishing Simulation Software
Phishing Simulation Software Built for Real-World Employee Testing
Test how employees respond to realistic phishing scenarios before a real attack puts your organization at risk.
Phishmake helps security and IT teams create phishing simulation campaigns, track employee actions, assign awareness training, and review results from one platform.
Phishing simulations • Awareness training • Employee tracking • Reporting
01Understand Risk
See How Employees Respond to Realistic Phishing Simulations
Phishing simulations give security teams a controlled way to understand how employees respond to suspicious emails. Instead of relying only on annual training, teams can send simulated campaigns and measure what employees actually do.
Phishmake records relevant campaign activity so teams can identify where additional awareness training may be useful. The goal is practical reinforcement, not blame.
02How It Works
Run a Phishing Simulation in Four Steps
- 1
Add your employees
Import employees by CSV or add them manually, then organize the audience.
- 2
Choose a scenario
Select a built-in template or create an organization-specific phishing email.
- 3
Launch the simulation
Choose the audience, configure delivery, and schedule the simulated email.
- 4
Measure and follow up
Review employee interactions and assign appropriate awareness training.
03Capabilities
Everything You Need to Manage Employee Phishing Tests
Custom templates
Build organization-specific email scenarios when a standard template is not enough.
Employee tracking
Review delivery, opens, link interactions, credential submissions, and attachment activity.
Awareness training
Assign courses manually or connect follow-up training to campaign activity.
Campaign reporting
Review campaign outcomes and employee events without combining separate systems.
Training progress
Track assigned, in-progress, and completed courses with employee-level history.
04Buyer Checklist
What to Check Before Choosing Phishing Simulation Software
Simulation software operates the exercise. Awareness training explains the expected behavior. A platform can connect both, but the label alone does not tell you which capabilities are included. Compare the actual workflow against these requirements.
| Requirement | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Audience setup | Try an employee import, update a group, and check how exclusions are handled. | An accurate audience avoids testing the wrong people and makes campaign results interpretable. |
| Scenario control | Edit a template and review its sender, links, landing experience, and learning objective. | A relevant scenario tests a workplace decision your program has taught employees to make. |
| Email delivery | Pilot delivery through your actual mail environment and document any required configuration. | A campaign that is blocked or altered cannot be compared fairly with one that reaches the inbox. |
| Event interpretation | Ask what each event means, what is collected, and how automated activity is handled. | An open or click is an observation; its cause and meaning need context. |
| Training follow-up | Assign a course after the pilot and follow its progress through completion. | Useful follow-up needs an owner, appropriate learning, and a way to see whether it happened. |
| Operating requirements | Confirm access controls, retention, exports, integrations, support, and plan limits directly. | These details determine whether the product fits your environment and ongoing workload. |
05Evaluate in Practice
Use a Pilot to Test the Workflow Your Team Will Own
Choose a small, approved audience that represents your email environment and employee roles. Write down acceptance criteria before the demo or trial so a polished dashboard is not the only thing you evaluate.
- 1
Define the decision
Choose one behavior to practice, identify the audience, and document who approves the scenario and handles questions.
- 2
Validate delivery
Send to test accounts first. Check the message, destination, event records, and how a reported message reaches your security team.
- 3
Complete the learning loop
Run the approved pilot, review supported employee events, assign relevant training, and inspect the completion record.
- 4
Record the operating cost
Track setup time, recurring administration, support needs, and required reports. Compare these findings with the quoted plan and your team's capacity.
06Measurement
Measure More Than Whether an Email Was Sent
Phishmake tracks delivered emails, opens, clicks, credential submissions, attachment opens, bounces, and employee-level events. Training assignments and completion records provide context for what happens after a simulation.
Interpret campaign comparisons in context. NIST's Phish Scale evaluates how difficult a phishing email is for its audience to detect; a change in click rate alone does not establish a change in employee risk.
Source: NIST Phish Scale User Guide
07Continuous Learning
Move Beyond One-Time Phishing Tests
A single phishing test provides only a snapshot. Regular simulations can help teams understand how behavior changes and where additional training may be needed.
Combine employee phishing simulations with ongoing training so employees can practice recognizing threats and reinforce what they learn.
08Industries
Phishing Simulation for Security-Conscious Organizations
Banks
Run controlled phishing tests and maintain useful employee activity and training records.
Credit unions
Support a repeatable employee simulation and awareness workflow.
09Compliance Support
Support Security Awareness and Compliance Programs
Simulation and training records can help demonstrate that awareness activities are being performed and monitored. Phishmake can support elements of a broader program; using the platform does not itself establish compliance.
Common questions
What is phishing simulation software?
It is a controlled testing platform used to send simulated phishing emails, observe employee interactions, and follow up with education or other risk-management actions.
How does a phishing simulation work?
A team selects or creates a scenario, chooses an employee audience, schedules the campaign, and reviews recipient and campaign activity after delivery.
Why should organizations run phishing simulations?
Simulations connect awareness concepts to realistic situations and help teams identify where employees or groups may benefit from reinforcement.
How often should phishing simulations be conducted?
There is no universal schedule. Frequency should reflect the organization's risk assessment, workforce, policies, threat environment, and applicable requirements. A repeatable program is more useful than an isolated test.
What happens when an employee interacts with a simulated email?
Phishmake records supported events such as link clicks or credential submissions. Teams can review the activity and assign follow-up training configured for the campaign.
Can training and simulation results support compliance reporting?
They can provide evidence that awareness activities occurred and were monitored. Those records do not, by themselves, establish compliance or guarantee that an auditor or examiner will consider the evidence sufficient.
Does Phishmake include security awareness training?
Yes. Administrators can assign courses, connect follow-up training to campaigns, and track progress and completion.
Sources & further reading
Published by Phishmake · Updated
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Find Out How Employees Respond Before a Real Phishing Attack
Run realistic employee phishing simulations, identify areas that need attention, and reinforce learning with security awareness training.