Unexpected resend
A familiar-looking message claims that an earlier link, attachment, invoice, or document must be opened again.
Clone Phishing Awareness
How to Recognize and Report Clone Phishing
Clone phishing copies the appearance or wording of a legitimate message and replaces a link, attachment, sender, or reply path with one controlled by an attacker.
Use this guide to turn the threat into a clear employee decision, a safe practice scenario, and a reporting step your organization can support.
Plain-English definition • Warning signs • Safe simulation ideas • Reporting practice
01Understand the threat
Clone Phishing: a practical definition
Clone phishing copies the appearance or wording of a legitimate message and replaces a link, attachment, sender, or reply path with one controlled by an attacker.
Familiar formatting is the lure. Employees should not assume a repeated delivery, updated file, or corrected link is genuine merely because it resembles a message they have seen before.
Source: CISA Phishing Guidance
02Recognition clues
Warning signs employees can check in a clone phishing message
No single clue proves that a message is malicious. Teach employees to combine the request, sender, business context, destination, and available verification route before acting.
Small destination change
The visible brand and language look normal, but the address, link destination, file type, or sign-in location differs.
Context gap
The employee did not expect the repeated message or cannot match it to an active task, conversation, or known sender.
03Safe response
Move from suspicion to a supported next step
| Moment | Employee action | Program preparation |
|---|---|---|
| Before acting | Reach the sender through a known channel or open the familiar service directly, then locate the expected item without using the replacement link or attachment. | Publish the authentic contact, application, or reporting route somewhere employees can reach without using the message. |
| When uncertain | Pause the request and report it through the approved channel with enough context for review. | Explain what the response team needs and how employees will know that their report was received. |
| After an interaction | Stop, contact the responsible team promptly, and describe the action taken without hiding the mistake. | Provide a well-known response route and avoid communications that discourage early reporting. |
Source: NIST: Recognizing, verifying, and reporting phishing
04Practice safely
Clone Phishing simulation and discussion ideas
Choose one learning objective per exercise. Use fictional people, organizations, accounts, payments, documents, and events, and test the reporting route before sending to employees.
Corrected document notice
Use an invented file share that claims an earlier document was replaced, with the learning goal of opening the known service independently.
Repeated delivery comparison
Show two fictional messages and ask employees which sender, destination, and context differences require verification.
Known-vendor resend
Practice confirming an unexpected duplicate invoice through the established supplier workflow.
05Campaign workflow
Build the exercise around a decision employees can repeat
- 1
Define the behavior
Write down the clone phishing clue being practiced, the expected action, the authorized audience, and the owner of follow-up.
- 2
Confirm the real process
Test the independent verification route, message-reporting option, response handoff, and employee support path from a representative account.
- 3
Pilot the scenario
Check delivery, links, landing content, accessibility, event records, automated inspection, stop conditions, and the explanation employees will receive.
- 4
Review in context
Reconcile intended recipients, successful deliveries, unique employee events, verified reports, response handling, and completed follow-up before drawing conclusions.
Source: NIST SP 800-50 Rev. 1: Building a Cybersecurity and Privacy Learning Program
06Useful measurement
Evaluate recognition, reporting, and the surrounding process
Record actual counts and denominators for delivery, unique recipient events, reports, and follow-up. Separate automated email inspection and repeat events where the available evidence supports doing so.
A clone phishing exercise samples one scenario under one set of conditions. It does not establish an employee's intent, overall security awareness, or likelihood of responding the same way to a real attack.
Use findings to improve the real workflow: clearer verification instructions, easier reporting, faster response handling, better role-specific training, or a business control that reduces reliance on email alone.
Common questions
Common questions about Phishmake's features, onboarding, and support, answered to help you get started with confidence.
How is clone phishing different from ordinary brand impersonation?
Clone phishing imitates a specific legitimate-looking message or delivery pattern, often presenting itself as a resend or correction. Brand impersonation may copy a company's identity without cloning a prior message.
What should employees compare?
Check the actual sender and reply path, the reason for the resend, the destination or attachment type, and whether the item exists in the known service or active workflow.
Can clone phishing be used in a phishing simulation?
It can be practiced when the scenario is authorized, proportionate, and tied to a real reporting or verification process. Do not copy a real confidential email, customer message, active invoice, legal notice, or employee conversation. Build a fictional example that teaches comparison without exposing genuine content.
How should clone phishing simulation results be measured?
Review successful delivery, unique employee events, reports, response handling, and completed follow-up. Include scenario difficulty and operating context, and do not treat a click or report as a complete measure of employee risk.
Sources & further reading
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