What Is Phishing Simulation? How It Works & Best Practices

Phishing remains one of the most common ways attackers try to trick employees into revealing credentials, opening malicious links, or sharing sensitive information. While email security tools can block many threats, employees still need to know how to recognize suspicious messages.

That's where phishing simulation can help.

What Is a Phishing Simulation?

A phishing simulation is a controlled security exercise where an organization sends realistic but harmless phishing emails to employees to see how they respond.

For example, an employee might receive a simulated Microsoft 365 password-reset email. The organization can then measure whether the employee interacts with the email and use the results to identify where additional training may be needed.

With Phishmake phishing simulation software, organizations can run employee phishing tests, track campaign activity, and connect simulations with security awareness training.

How Does Phishing Simulation Work?

A typical phishing simulation follows a simple process:

1. Select employees
Choose the employees, departments, or groups you want to test.

2. Choose a phishing scenario
Use a realistic scenario such as a password reset, shared document, payroll update, invoice, or account-security notification.

3. Launch the simulation
Send the simulated phishing email to the selected employees.

4. Measure employee responses
Track supported actions such as interactions, simulated credential submissions, reporting, and other campaign events.

5. Provide training
Employees who need additional guidance can receive relevant security awareness training.

6. Review and repeat
Compare results over time to identify patterns and areas where awareness can improve.

Common Phishing Simulation Examples

Organizations can use different scenarios to keep simulations realistic. Common examples include:

• Microsoft 365 password expiration

• Google Workspace security alerts

• Shared document notifications

• Payroll or HR updates

• Invoice and payment requests

• Executive impersonation

• Package delivery notifications

• QR-code phishing

Using different scenarios helps employees learn to identify suspicious behavior rather than simply recognizing the same phishing template repeatedly.

What Should You Measure?

A phishing simulation shouldn't be judged only by how many employees clicked.

Useful metrics can include:

Interaction rate: How many employees interacted with the simulated phishing message?

Reporting rate: How many employees recognized and reported the suspicious email, where reporting is supported?

Repeat interactions: Are the same employees repeatedly struggling with simulations?

Training completion: Are employees completing assigned awareness training?

Department trends: Are certain teams showing different patterns?

The goal is to understand how employee behavior changes over time, rather than treating one simulation as a pass-or-fail test.

Phishing Simulation and Security Awareness Training

Phishing simulations and security awareness training solve different parts of the same problem.

Training teaches employees what to look for.

Simulations give employees an opportunity to apply what they've learned.

Together, they create a continuous cycle:

Train → Simulate → Measure → Reinforce → Repeat

Organizations can use Phishmake security awareness training alongside simulations to create a more measurable employee awareness program.

Phishing Simulation Best Practices

For more effective simulations:

• Use realistic but responsible phishing scenarios.

• Test different phishing techniques instead of repeating one template.

• Consider scenarios relevant to employee roles and departments.

• Don't publicly shame employees who interact with simulations.

• Provide useful training after mistakes.

• Measure positive behavior such as reporting, not just clicks.

• Compare results across multiple campaigns.

• Increase simulation difficulty gradually where appropriate.

Most importantly, treat phishing simulation as an education and risk-measurement tool, not a way to trick employees.

Phishing Simulation for Banks and Credit Unions

Financial institutions can face phishing attempts involving credentials, payments, executive impersonation, customer information, invoices, and account access.

Regular simulations can help employees practice recognizing these scenarios while giving security teams useful information about employee behavior.

Phishmake provides dedicated solutions for security awareness training for banks and credit unions.

Financial institutions can also review how employee awareness activities may support broader GLBA security awareness and FFIEC security awareness programs.

How Phishmake Helps

Phishmake is a phishing simulation and security awareness training platform designed to help organizations test employee responses and reinforce cybersecurity awareness.

Security and IT teams can use Phishmake to run phishing simulations, manage employees, provide awareness training, monitor campaign activity, and maintain useful simulation and training records.

Instead of treating phishing testing and employee education as separate activities, organizations can manage them as part of an ongoing security awareness program.

Ready to Run Your First Phishing Simulation?

Test how employees respond to realistic phishing scenarios and reinforce learning with security awareness training.

Explore Phishmake Phishing Simulation Software