Your Employees Are Your First Line of Defense

91% of cyberattacks start with a phishing email. Your team needs to know what to look for.

Why Phishing Works

Phishing exploits human psychology—urgency, fear, curiosity, and authority. Technical defenses help, but educated users are essential.

Red Flags to Watch For

Urgency Tactics

  • “Your account will be closed in 24 hours”
  • “Immediate action required”
  • “Unauthorized access detected”

Suspicious Sender Details

  • Mismatched display names and email addresses
  • Slight misspellings of legitimate domains
  • Generic greetings instead of your name

Request Red Flags

  • Requests for passwords or sensitive data
  • Unexpected attachments
  • Links that do not match the claimed destination

Building a Training Program

Monthly Simulations

Send fake phishing emails to test awareness. Track who clicks and provide immediate training.

Interactive Workshops

  • Review real examples
  • Practice identifying threats
  • Discuss recent company incidents

Recognition Rewards

Celebrate employees who report suspicious emails. Positive reinforcement builds culture.

Creating Security Champions

Identify interested employees for deeper training. They become peer resources and advocates.

Measuring Success

  • Phishing simulation click rates
  • Report-to-click ratios
  • Time to report suspicious emails
  • Incident response metrics

Advanced Threats

Spear Phishing

Targeted attacks using personal information. Always verify through another channel.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Fake executive emails requesting wire transfers. Always verify large transfers verbally.

The Bottom Line

Security awareness is an ongoing process, not a one-time training. Make it part of your culture.

Want to implement phishing training? Reach out at contactme@itsdavidg.co