Start a phishing campaign in a company

Phishing is one of the most worrying subject within an organisation. Indeed, it represent a real threat to IT systems as well as to people and the entities. In this article, we will explain why and how to maintain your security, by launching a phishing campaign to raise awareness among your employees.

What is a phishing campaign ?

Phishing definition

Phishing is a well-known fraud technique used by cybercriminals. They take advantage of the vulnerabilities of internet users breaches in IT systems to gather sensitive information. They can also try to collect their personal data such as their credentials, passwords, bank account number or credit card while pretending to be a legitimate organisation.

We can mention several well-known organisations regularly hijacked to gain the trust of phishing victims in France : "EDF", public services like "La CAF" or Taxes, Paypal, Facebook (Meta) or even phone providers like "SFR" or "Orange".

Attempts at impersonation, scam, hacking, or virus spreading attacks are malicious practices.

They can cause significant damage to employees, customers and all entities that fall victim of cybercrime. Data theft (e.g identity theft or credit card theft) can have terrible consequences, not to mention the threat to IT security. Some hackers will even demand a ransom. As a result, more and more organisations are choosing to run a phishing awareness campaign to protect their data and prevent a future attack. The goal of a phishing campaign is to inform and educate all employees on how these attacks work and how to protect themselves.

The keys of a successfull phishing campaign

If you would like to fight effectively against cybercrime, we recommend you that you consider the following elements in consideration before launching your phishing campaign :

• Provide your employees with theoretical training : Indeed, it is mandatory that they understand the meaning of phishing through how it works and the possible consequences. A list of training courses or workshops can be set up to inform them about the dangers of these malicious attacks.

• Provide concrete examples : Whether real or fake (but possible), these phishing attacks can help your employees better understand the nature of the problem.

• Put your employees in a real-life situation : Organise simulations in order to raise their awareness. For example, you can ask them to identify whether an e-mail, an attached file or a website could be a phishing attempt or not.

• Remind them of the good practices : When training your employees, it is always useful to remind them of the best practices to avoid falling victim to an attack. For example, we can mention the fact that they should never share sensitives information (bank account codes, credentials, passwords ...), always check the URL of a website before entering any personal information or even insist on the use of an antivirus product.

• Monitor and evaluate the results : By monitoring and analysing employees' progress over time, you can measure the effectiveness of a phishing campaign. Don't hesitate to send them surveys and tests to assess their knowledge of phishing.

In a nutshell, setting up a phishing campaign is very useful for organisation nowadays : It can help to better prepare your employees against cyber-attacks which are unfortunately in the increase. Providing them with the necessary knowledge to detect malicious activities is a good way to avoid data theft, impersonation, or attacks by hackers (using malware, fradulent websites, fake messages, fake calls ...). More generally, it is an approach that will strengthen the global security of organisations, by reducing the theft of sensitive data

How to run a phishing campaign in your organisation ?

As we have seen, a phishing campaign in an organisation is a useful way to protect yourself against IT crime. However, in order to carry out this type of operation, it is better to follow a step-by-step plan that takes into account some important elements.

The different stages

Here are the different stages to set up a successful campaign :

• Analyse the risks : start by identifying breaches within your organisation and potential cyber-attacks that you might encounter. This can include analysing websites, e-mails or even social networks used by your employees.

• Set goals : define precisely what you want to achieve by running a phishing campaign. Is it to reduce the number of incidents or simply to improve your detection of attack risks? Clarify your objectives.

• Establish an action plan : the key to achieving your goals is to establish an action plan. From the calendar to the content of the campaign, to the necessary resources you will need (for example software or consultants), nothing should be left to chance.

• Get to work on content creation : having attractive educational material that clearly explains what phishing is and how to protect yourself crom it will help you to be even more effective during the campaign. It's time to get inspired.

• Train and communicate : set up a regular training program for all your employes about the dangers of phising and how to avoid getting hacked, scammed or tricked.

• Monitor the results : monitor the number of hacking incident linked to hacking attempts and their severity as often as possible to measure the effectiveness of your anti-phishing measures.

• Work to improve your results : with the new information you have about the effectiveness of your campaigns, you will have everything you need to adjust your strategy to improve your results

In addition, there are several important elements that need to be taken into account for have a successful phishing campaign. These are:

• The involvement of managers to show that security is a priority ;

• Tailoring the content to make it more relevant and appealing to each employee ;

• Regularly reinforcing the message keep employees aware against of the threats

How can you further improve your results ?

That's why it's a good idea to analyse its effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. For example, you can :

• Get specialist software to monitor and analyse your results ;

• Continue to research and test new methods or technologies on the subject ;

• Partner with organisations that fight cybercrime (such as Internet fraud and piracy) on a daily basis
  

• Develop a comprehensive phishing training programme.

By implementing long-term initiatives, you give yourself all the resources you need to strengthen the overall security of your organisation and the data it manages.

Raising employee awareness on phishing with Ballpoint.

For several years now, phishing has been one of the main cybersecurity threats to businesses, so it is essential to raise employee awareness of hacking techniques and IT scam. his initiative is already a good start if you want to reduce the risks. This initiative is already a good start if you want to reduce the risks. However, to give yourself the best chance of success with such a project, it is often advisable to enlist the services of a specialist service provider such as Ballpoint.

By using our services, you can optimise your anti-phishing strategy. In particular, you will benefit from :

• Tailored support for the creation and management of your internal campaigns ;

• Advice from cyber security experts to improve your anti-phishing measures ;

• An intuitive platform for tracking results and employee skills.

With Ballpoint's expertise and personalised approach, you can not only alert your entire organisation to the risk of phishing, but also instil a true culture of cybersecurity within your departments.

Protect yourself now against threats and attacks from hackers and cybercriminals. We'll work with you to assess the best way to set up an internal campaign tailored to your needs. We look forward to hearing from you!