Phishing Simulation Software: How It Works, What to Look For, and the Best Tools in 2026
- Apr 5
- 25 min read
Every data breach starts somewhere. In most organizations, it starts with a single employee who clicks on the wrong link. Not because they are careless — but because the email looked legitimate, the timing was bad, and no one had ever shown them what a real attack looks like. Phishing simulation software exists to change that equation: to show employees what an attack feels like before a real one arrives. The data in 2026 is stark, and it demands a response.
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TL;DR
Phishing was the most common initial attack vector in data breaches between March 2024 and February 2025, accounting for 16% of incidents, per IBM's Cost of a Data Breach study.
With an industry-wide baseline phish-prone percentage of 33.1%, roughly one in three employees will click on a simulated phishing email before any training — but that figure drops by over 86% within 12 months of consistent simulation-based training, per KnowBe4's 2025 Phishing By Industry Benchmark Report.
The median time for users to click on a phishing simulation link is just 21 seconds — and 28 seconds to submit sensitive data, per Verizon's 2024 DBIR.
Phishing simulation software sends controlled fake attacks to employees, measures responses, and delivers targeted training — turning the weakest link into an active defense layer.
Top platforms in 2026 include KnowBe4, Proofpoint Security Awareness, Cofense PhishMe, Hoxhunt, Infosec IQ, and open-source GoPhish.
The global phishing simulation market was valued at $98.87 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $224.3 billion by 2034 at a CAGR of 8.46%.
What is phishing simulation software?
Phishing simulation software is a cybersecurity training tool that sends controlled, fake phishing emails to employees to test whether they click malicious links or submit credentials. When someone falls for a test, the software delivers immediate remedial training. It measures click rates, reporting rates, and risk scores — helping organizations reduce human vulnerability before real attackers exploit it.
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Table of Contents
1. Background: Why Phishing Still Works in 2026
People trust emails. That trust is what attackers exploit — and what no technical firewall can fully stop.
Over 90% of cyberattacks begin with phishing, making it the leading method used by threat actors to breach networks and steal data, according to CISA. In Q1 2025, over 1 million phishing attacks were observed — the largest quarterly total since late 2023.
Financial losses from phishing nearly quadrupled year over year, rising from $18.7 million in reported losses in 2023 to $70 million in 2024, according to the FBI IC3 2024 Annual Report.
The speed of the threat is alarming. The median time for a user to click on a phishing simulation link is just 21 seconds, and it takes only 28 seconds for users to submit sensitive data, per Verizon's 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report. That is faster than most IT teams can detect and respond.
What changed in 2025 and 2026 is the quality of the attack, not just the volume. AI-generated phishing emails had a 54% click-through rate compared to just 12% for human-written messages in a recent academic study. And 73.8% of phishing emails analyzed in 2024 used some form of AI, rising to over 90% for those with polymorphic elements.
Hoxhunt analysts observed traditional phishing campaigns becoming more polished throughout 2025, with improved grammar and slick graphics, aligning with the increasing availability and quality of generative AI tools.
The implication is direct: technical filters can block known threats. But a polished, AI-crafted email impersonating your CEO will bypass most filters and land in your inbox. The last line of defense is a trained human. Phishing simulation software is how you train that human.
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2. What Is Phishing Simulation Software?
Phishing simulation software is a controlled training platform that mimics real-world phishing attacks inside your organization. It sends fake phishing emails — and increasingly fake SMS texts, voice calls, and QR codes — to your employees. It tracks who clicks, who submits credentials, and who reports the suspicious message. Employees who fall for the test receive immediate, targeted education right at the moment they are most receptive.
This is different from annual security awareness training (SAT) slides. Simulation software creates a lived experience: the employee has actually been "tricked," which creates a far stronger memory trace than a passive lecture.
The three core functions of any phishing simulation platform are:
Attack simulation — Sending realistic fake phishing emails (or SMS/voice) to employees.
Measurement — Tracking click rates, submission rates, and reporting rates by department, role, and individual.
Training delivery — Triggering micro-learning modules instantly when a user fails a test.
A phishing simulation tool is a training platform that mimics common and emerging phishing tactics to measure how employees respond. By testing reactions in a safe environment, organizations can identify risky behaviors and improve awareness before attackers exploit them.
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3. How Phishing Simulation Software Works (Step by Step)
Understanding the mechanics helps you evaluate whether a platform is credible and effective.
Step 1: Define the Scope and Target Groups
Before any simulated attack launches, the administrator configures the campaign. This includes selecting target employee groups (all staff, a department, or high-risk roles like finance or IT), setting the campaign frequency, and choosing the simulation difficulty level. Most enterprise platforms allow segmentation by job title, tenure, or previous test performance.
Step 2: Select or Build a Phishing Template
The platform provides a library of phishing templates modeled on real-world attacks. KnowBe4 commands the 2026 market with its massive library exceeding 1,271 training modules updated weekly from real-world threats captured by its global research team. Templates range from "urgent IT password reset" to "fake invoice from a known vendor" to QR code lures. High-end platforms update their libraries constantly using live threat intelligence.
Proofpoint customers sent more than 55,000 campaigns to users — more than 212 million messages in total in 2024 — a 16% increase from the 183 million messages sent in 2023.
Step 3: Configure the Landing Page and Payload Tracking
When an employee clicks the link in a test email, they are redirected to a controlled landing page hosted by the simulation platform. This page may look like a fake Microsoft login or a fake file-download screen. The platform records the click event. If the employee enters credentials, that submission is also recorded — but reputable platforms do not store the actual passwords. They only capture the fact that credentials were submitted.
Step 4: Launch and Monitor
The campaign goes live. The platform uses "anti-prairie dog" randomization (a term KnowBe4 coined) to stagger send times, preventing employees from warning each other about an active test. The admin dashboard shows real-time data on opens, clicks, credential submissions, and reports.
Step 5: Trigger Just-in-Time Training
When an employee clicks the phishing link, they see an immediate training intervention — typically a short video, a one-page explainer, or an interactive quiz. This "teachable moment" delivery is the most effective point for behavior change because the emotion of being caught heightens attention. Research in behavioral science supports the superior recall of experiential learning over passive content consumption.
Step 6: Analyze and Report
After the campaign, administrators review metrics: click rate (% who clicked), submission rate (% who entered credentials), reporting rate (% who flagged the email as suspicious), and the resilience ratio (reporting rate divided by failure rate). These metrics benchmark the organization's risk posture and guide the next campaign's difficulty level.
Across all organizations and campaigns, the average failure rate is 4.93%, per Proofpoint's 2024 data. The average reporting rate is 18.65%. Financial services has the highest reporting rate at 32.35%, while education has the lowest at 7.71%.
Step 7: Repeat and Escalate
Effective programs run simulations continuously, not just quarterly. Organizations that implement security awareness training see a dramatic reduction in phishing risk — over 40% in just 90 days, and up to 86% within a year, per KnowBe4's 2025 Benchmark Report. The more frequent and varied the simulations, the faster the risk reduction.
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4. Key Features to Look For
Not all phishing simulation tools are equal. Here is what separates a genuinely effective platform from a checkbox product.
Threat-Intelligence-Driven Templates
The best platforms pull real-world phishing samples from live threat feeds. Proofpoint Security Awareness bases its simulations on data from analyzing tens of billions of messages daily, using lures and brands seen in actual attacks. Templates informed by real attacks are far harder to spot than generic "test@yourit.com" simulations.
Multi-Channel Simulation
Email phishing is only one channel. Modern attackers also use SMS (smishing), phone calls (vishing), and QR codes (quishing). Voice phishing (vishing) attacks surged 442% between the first and second halves of 2024. A platform that only simulates email phishing is already behind the threat landscape.
Within Proofpoint's phishing simulations, 30% focus on compromising accounts and bypassing MFA, and 25% exploit collaboration and file-sharing platforms like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Dropbox.
Adaptive and Personalized Campaigns
High-risk users — executives, finance staff, IT administrators — need harder and more frequent tests than general staff. Look for platforms that use behavioral analytics or AI to automatically escalate the difficulty for repeat clickers and ease it for consistently resilient users.
AI-driven simulations are gaining traction, with 53% of organizations integrating predictive phishing training tools that adapt based on user response behavior and email engagement patterns.
Very Attacked People (VAP) Identification
Proofpoint's "Very Attacked People" (VAP) feature integrates with Proofpoint Email Security to identify and target high-risk users who are most frequently targeted by real attackers. This data-driven prioritization ensures training effort goes where the risk is highest.
Reporting Button Integration
A reporting button — typically a one-click plugin for Outlook or Gmail — lets employees flag suspicious emails without leaving their inbox. High reporting rates indicate a healthy security culture and create a human sensor network inside your organization. Cofense PhishMe includes a widely-used email reporting button that integrates with Triage and Vision products for incident response.
Robust Analytics and Benchmarking
Look for dashboards that show click rates, submission rates, reporting rates, and trends over time — broken down by department, role, and geography. The ability to benchmark against your industry peers is valuable. Proofpoint provides benchmarks across 29 industries.
Compliance and Audit Trails
For organizations subject to HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, or NIS2, simulation software must generate audit-ready reports showing who was trained, when, and how they performed. KnowBe4 and Terranova Security provide the most detailed audit trails for compliance benchmarking such as SOC 2 or HIPAA.
Integration with Existing Security Stack
Phishing simulation tools should integrate with your SIEM, SOAR, email gateway, and identity provider. KnowBe4 integrates with over 100 security tools. Platforms that feed employee-reported threats into a SOC workflow — as Cofense does — close the loop between training and active defense.
GDPR and Legal Compliance
Phishing simulations are legal when conducted responsibly. Reputable providers ensure exercises comply with data-protection laws like GDPR, and organizations must notify employees that security testing may occur as part of their training program.
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5. The Best Phishing Simulation Tools in 2026
KnowBe4
KnowBe4 is the market leader by volume and breadth. It is best for large enterprises that need an extensive, all-in-one phishing simulation tool with the largest possible variety of templates and training content. Its AI engine recommends templates based on individual user performance, training history, and proficiency scores. The platform uses a tiered subscription model (Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond) at approximately $1.30–$3.25 per user per month.
Best for: Large enterprises, MSPs, compliance-heavy environments.
Standout feature: Library of 1,271+ training modules; Kevin Mitnick-inspired content series.
Proofpoint Security Awareness (ZenGuide / ThreatSim)
Proofpoint's strength is its integration with its email security platform. Proofpoint pulls real phishing and malware samples from its massive threat intelligence network and feeds them directly into simulation templates. Its "People Risk Explorer" dashboard identifies VAPs across your organization. Pricing starts at approximately $18 per user per year for standard tiers.
Best for: Enterprises already using Proofpoint email security; organizations prioritizing threat-intel-driven simulations.
Standout feature: VAP identification; Nexus AI-powered risk scoring.
Cofense PhishMe
Cofense PhishMe has carved out a specialized niche by focusing on transforming employees into an active part of the threat detection process, with its "report phish" functionality integrating directly into security operations. It excels in environments with a mature SOC. Pricing starts at approximately $10 per user per year.
Best for: Security-mature organizations with an active SOC; teams needing deep simulation-to-incident-response integration.
Standout feature: Cofense Triage for automated analysis of reported real-world phishing emails.
Hoxhunt
Hoxhunt takes a behavior-change-first approach using gamified, personalized micro-simulations. Hoxhunt data shows approximately 10% reporting rate among users in quarterly SAT programs, rising significantly in organizations that implement behavior-change programs. It added multilingual support across 30+ languages in 2023, making it strong for global deployments.
Best for: Organizations where employee engagement and cultural change are the priority.
Standout feature: Gamified learning; multilingual support; behavior-change analytics.
Infosec IQ
Infosec IQ offers a 12-month training program with adaptive phishing simulations, role-based learning paths, and immediate feedback. Administrators can customize campaigns with IQPhishSim and use PhishNotify for user-reported emails. Strong reporting and analytics make it well-suited for mid-market organizations.
Best for: Mid-market organizations wanting strong customization and compliance alignment.
Standout feature: IQPhishSim custom campaigns; immediate in-line remediation training.
Adaptive Security
Backed by OpenAI, Adaptive Security is built from the ground up for AI-native threats. It explicitly covers email, SMS, deepfakes, and voice phishing simulations, with AI-suggested tactics continuously evolving to outpace changing threat landscapes. Pricing starts at approximately $3–$4.50 per user per month.
Best for: Organizations facing sophisticated threats; those needing multi-channel AI simulation including deepfakes.
Standout feature: Deepfake and vishing simulations; agentic AI threat generation.
SoSafe
SoSafe creates an engaging, user-centric training experience through gamification and automation. It is particularly strong in Europe where GDPR compliance and multilingual requirements are priorities. Pricing is custom.
Best for: European enterprises; organizations prioritizing engagement-led culture change.
Standout feature: Gamified points and avatars; behavioral science-grounded content.
GoPhish (Open Source)
GoPhish is the leading free, open-source phishing simulation framework. It is self-hosted, meaning your IT team builds and manages campaigns manually. GoPhish is the budget champion, while KnowBe4 is the premium gold standard. It offers no built-in training content, no automated reporting, and no vendor support — making it suitable only for organizations with strong internal security engineering capacity.
Best for: Small businesses, security researchers, and red teams with engineering resources.
Cost: Free (open source); hosting and administration costs apply.
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6. Comparison Table: Top Phishing Simulation Tools
Tool | Multi-Channel | AI-Driven | SOC Integration | Starting Price | Best For |
KnowBe4 | Email, SMS, QR, USB | Yes | Limited | ~$1.30/user/mo | Large enterprises, broad SAT |
Proofpoint | Email, SMS, USB | Yes (Nexus AI) | Strong | ~$18/user/yr | Proofpoint ecosystem users |
Cofense PhishMe | Email, Vishing | Limited | Very Strong | ~$10/user/yr | SOC-mature organizations |
Hoxhunt | Email, SMS | Yes | Moderate | Custom | Engagement-focused programs |
Infosec IQ | Moderate | Moderate | Custom | Mid-market, role-based learning | |
Adaptive Security | Email, SMS, Voice, Deepfake | Yes (OpenAI-backed) | Moderate | ~$3–$4.50/user/mo | AI-threat-ready organizations |
SoSafe | Email, SMS | Yes | Moderate | Custom | European enterprises |
GoPhish | No | None | Free | Internal red teams, SMBs |
Sources: Vendor documentation, Adaptive Security blog (September 2025), Brightside AI blog (December 2025), Symbol Security (2026).
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7. Case Studies: What Happens Without Training
These three real-world incidents show exactly why phishing simulation and training matter. In each case, a human — not a system — was the point of failure.
Case Study 1: Twilio (August 2022)
What happened: On August 4, 2022, attackers convinced multiple Twilio employees to hand over their corporate credentials via a sophisticated SMS phishing campaign. The attack used text messages purporting to come from Twilio's IT department, stating that employees' passwords had expired and directing them to a spoofed Twilio login page.
Attackers also used URLs that included keywords such as "Twilio," "Okta," and "SSO," making the links appear legitimate.
The outcome: Concluding its investigation, Twilio confirmed that 209 customers and 93 end users of its Authy two-factor authentication app had their accounts impacted. The breach also rippled to Signal, DoorDash, and ultimately affected at least 130 organizations as part of the "0ktapus" campaign tracked by security researchers (Malwarebytes, August 2022).
The lesson: SMS phishing bypasses email security entirely. Employees at a technology company — presumably security-aware — still fell for a well-crafted smishing attack. Regular multi-channel simulation, specifically targeting SMS lures, would have reduced the success rate of this attack.
Case Study 2: Cisco (May–August 2022)
What happened: On May 24, 2022, Cisco became aware of a potential compromise. The attacker had gained access to a Cisco employee's personal Google account, which had stored the employee's Cisco credentials via Google Chrome's password sync feature.
After obtaining the user's credentials, the attacker attempted to bypass MFA using voice phishing (vishing) and MFA fatigue — the process of sending a high volume of push requests to the target's mobile device until the user accepts, either accidentally or simply to silence the repeated push notifications.
The attacker ultimately succeeded in achieving an MFA push acceptance, granting access to Cisco's VPN. The attacker then enrolled new devices for MFA and authenticated successfully, before moving laterally through the network, installing remote access tools including LogMeIn, TeamViewer, and Cobalt Strike.
The outcome: The Yanluowang ransomware group posted a list of stolen files and claimed to have stolen 2.75GB of Cisco's data, consisting of around 3,100 files. Cisco stated it did not identify any impact to its products, services, or sensitive customer data.
The lesson: Even security companies are vulnerable to vishing and MFA fatigue. The attack did not require cracking any password — only social engineering. Vishing simulation programs, which train employees to recognize and hang up on manipulative phone calls, are a direct countermeasure to this precise attack vector.
Case Study 3: MGM Resorts International (September 2023)
What happened: In September 2023, attackers affiliated with the Scattered Spider group (also linked to 0ktapus) breached MGM Resorts International using a social engineering attack. According to reporting by Bloomberg (September 14, 2023) and Bleeping Computer (September 2023), attackers found an MGM employee's LinkedIn profile, used publicly available information to impersonate the employee, and called MGM's IT help desk to request a password reset. The help desk complied, providing the credentials needed to access MGM's systems.
The outcome: MGM's casino operations — including slot machines, digital hotel keys, and reservations systems — were knocked offline for approximately 10 days. MGM disclosed in an SEC filing (October 2023) that the incident would cost the company approximately $100 million in impact to its third-quarter operating results, plus additional expenses.
The lesson: This attack required zero technical sophistication. A single phone call was enough. Vishing simulation training, combined with strict identity verification procedures for IT help desk requests, are the direct defenses this attack would have faced.
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8. Industry Variations: Who Needs This Most?
Phishing risk is not uniform across sectors.
Financial Services receives the most sophisticated attacks and — partly as a result — has invested most heavily in simulation training. The financial services sector showed the highest phishing simulation reporting rate at 32.35%, per Proofpoint's 2025 phishing test data. This reflects both high regulatory pressure and mature training programs.
Healthcare faces severe consequences from breaches. Healthcare phishing attacks led to $10 million in recovery costs per ransomware incident in 2025. Clinical staff are high-value targets because their accounts connect to patient records and financial systems, yet their primary job function is patient care — not security vigilance.
Education is the most vulnerable sector by simulation data. The education sector had the lowest phishing simulation reporting rate at 7.71%, per Proofpoint's 2025 data. Universities have large, diverse user populations — students, faculty, adjuncts — and rarely mandate consistent security training.
SaaS and Technology is the most targeted sector by attack volume. Software-as-a-Service industries saw 17.7% of phishing attacks in 2024, the highest share of any sector, per APWG data.
Manufacturing is improving. The manufacturing sector saw a 16.8% decline in phishing attacks in 2024, likely tied to growing adoption of security frameworks like CMMC, NIST 800-171, NIS2, and TISAX, which mandate tighter controls.
Regional Note: North America accounts for more than 36% of the global phishing simulation market share. Europe follows at 28%, and Asia-Pacific at 23%, driven by digital expansion and emerging regulatory mandates.
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9. Pros and Cons of Phishing Simulation Programs
Pros
Measurable risk reduction. Organizations that implement security awareness training see a reduction in phishing risk of over 40% in just 90 days, and up to 86% within a year.
Real-time, behavioral learning. Catching an employee in the moment of clicking creates a stronger, more durable learning moment than passive training.
Benchmarking against peers. Platforms like Proofpoint and KnowBe4 benchmark your click rates against industry averages across dozens of sectors.
Regulatory compliance. Regular simulation and training evidence satisfies security controls under GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and NIS2.
Active threat detection. When employees report simulated attacks, they build the habit of reporting real ones — creating a human sensor layer.
Cons
Employee morale risk. Poorly communicated simulation programs can feel like "gotcha" exercises that punish rather than educate, damaging trust.
Alert fatigue. Overly frequent or repetitive simulations can reduce employee engagement and create "test blindness."
Simulations lag the threat. AI-generated attacks evolve faster than most platform template libraries. An employee trained only on 2024-era lures may still fall for a 2026-era deepfake voice call.
Cost for SMBs. Enterprise platforms are priced per user per month, making them expensive for organizations with hundreds of employees but tight budgets.
Measuring the wrong metric. Focusing exclusively on click rates can create a culture of fear around failure rather than encouraging active reporting.
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10. Myths vs. Facts
Myth | Fact |
"Our employees are too smart to fall for phishing." | 33.1% of untrained employees fail a phishing test, per KnowBe4's 2025 Benchmark. Familiarity with technology does not prevent falling for a sophisticated lure. |
"One annual training is enough." | Annual training produces marginal, short-lived behavior change. Continuous simulation programs produce up to 86% risk reduction over 12 months. |
"Phishing simulation tools store real employee passwords." | Reputable platforms do not store actual passwords. They capture only the fact that a password was entered. |
"Technical controls alone stop phishing." | There was a 104.5% increase in malicious emails bypassing Secure Email Gateways, per Cofense's 2024 Annual State of Email Security Report. Filters help, but they are not sufficient. |
"Only executives get targeted." | Over 68% of phishing breaches in small businesses started with a single untrained staff member. Everyone is a target. |
"Running simulations without disclosure is fine." | Ethical and legal best practice requires informing employees that security testing will occur, even if specific test dates are not disclosed. This is especially important in GDPR-regulated jurisdictions. |
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11. How to Launch a Phishing Simulation Program: A Checklist
Use this checklist when setting up or auditing your phishing simulation program.
Before You Start:
[ ] Define program goals: reduce click rate, increase reporting rate, achieve compliance.
[ ] Get leadership sponsorship (CISO + C-suite).
[ ] Communicate to all employees that security simulation testing will occur (date-unspecified).
[ ] Identify high-risk groups: finance, HR, IT help desk, executives.
[ ] Review legal/HR requirements in all jurisdictions (especially GDPR in Europe).
Tool Selection:
[ ] Confirm multi-channel support (email, SMS, voice, QR).
[ ] Verify threat-intelligence-driven template updates.
[ ] Check integration with your email platform (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace).
[ ] Confirm SIEM/SOC integration if applicable.
[ ] Review compliance reporting capabilities.
Campaign Setup:
[ ] Baseline test: run an initial campaign with no prior training to establish a phish-prone percentage.
[ ] Set campaign frequency: monthly at minimum; weekly for high-risk groups.
[ ] Configure adaptive difficulty: easy templates for new employees, advanced lures for repeat offenders.
[ ] Enable the phishing report button in all email clients.
Ongoing Management:
[ ] Review metrics after every campaign: click rate, submission rate, reporting rate.
[ ] Deliver targeted remedial training to clickers within 24 hours.
[ ] Escalate difficulty over time as click rates fall.
[ ] Run an annual program review with full executive reporting.
[ ] Update templates quarterly to reflect new threat intelligence.
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12. Pitfalls and Risks to Avoid
Punishing employees instead of educating them
Phishing simulation should be framed as a training exercise, not a disciplinary one. Naming and shaming employees who click on tests causes resentment and suppresses reporting — the behavior you most want to encourage.
Running simulations that are too obvious
A fake email from "IT-Department@yoursecuritytest.com" does not replicate a real attack and gives employees false confidence. Use templates from real threat intelligence.
Ignoring the reporting rate metric
Click rate reduction is good, but reporting rate increase is the real goal. An employee who spots a phishing email and reports it is far more valuable than one who simply ignores it.
Running campaigns too infrequently
Quarterly-only simulations leave employees untested for 13 weeks at a time. Hoxhunt data shows approximately 10% reporting rate among users engaged in quarterly SAT programs. More frequent touchpoints drive faster culture change.
Neglecting vishing and smishing
Voice phishing attacks surged 442% between the first and second halves of 2024. If your program only covers email, you are training for yesterday's threat.
Not tailoring simulations to roles
The phishing lures an executive receives look very different from those targeting a call center agent. Generic, one-size-fits-all campaigns produce generic results.
Failing to test the report button
If employees cannot click "Report Phishing" quickly and easily, they will not do it. Test the reporting workflow regularly.
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13. Future Outlook: AI-Powered Phishing in 2026 and Beyond
The threat is accelerating. According to KnowBe4's 2025 Phishing Threat Trends Report, 82.6% of phishing emails analyzed between September 2024 and February 2025 contained AI-generated content.
AI-generated phishing emails had a 54% click-through rate compared to just 12% for human-written messages, according to a recent academic study cited by Secureframe (2025). This gap is only likely to widen as generative AI tools improve.
Three threats define the 2026 horizon:
1. Deepfake voice and video attacks. Attackers use AI-generated audio to impersonate executives in real-time phone calls — the same technique used in the MGM Resorts breach, now automated and scalable. Platforms like Adaptive Security and Jericho Security now offer deepfake vishing simulations to train employees against this specific vector.
2. Hyper-personalized spear phishing. AI can ingest a target's LinkedIn, social media, email signature, and public filings to craft a bespoke lure within seconds. Hoxhunt analysts noted that traditional phishing campaigns became more polished throughout 2025, with improved grammar and slick graphics, aligning with the increasing availability of generative AI tools.
3. QR code phishing (quishing). C-suite executives saw 42 times more QR code phishing attacks than the average employee in Q4 2023, per Dark Reading. Mimecast counted 1,642 brands targeted by criminals using QR codes in Q2 2025, with DHL attacked most often. QR codes bypass most email URL scanners because they encode URLs inside images.
The simulation market will adapt. Behavior-driven training platforms are now deployed by 61% of global enterprises, and 58% of companies are shifting toward behavior-based phishing simulations with gamified and AI-driven content modules. The next generation of platforms will simulate deepfakes, generate infinitely varied personalized lures, and measure behavioral change in real time.
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14. FAQ
Q: What is the average phishing click rate before training?
A: The industry-wide average phish-prone percentage (PPP) before training is 33.1%, per KnowBe4's 2025 Phishing By Industry Benchmark Report — meaning roughly one in three employees will click on a simulated phishing email without prior awareness training.
Q: How much can training reduce phishing click rates?
A: Organizations that implement consistent security awareness training see click rates drop by over 40% within 90 days and up to 86% reduction within a year, per KnowBe4's 2025 Benchmark data.
Q: How often should phishing simulations be run?
A: At minimum monthly for general staff, and weekly or bi-weekly for high-risk groups such as finance, HR, IT, and executives. Quarterly-only programs show significantly lower reporting rates and slower risk reduction.
Q: Is phishing simulation software legal?
A: Yes. Phishing simulations are legal when conducted responsibly. Reputable providers ensure exercises comply with data protection laws like GDPR. Organizations should inform employees that security testing may occur as part of their training program, even without specifying test dates.
Q: What is a good phishing reporting rate?
A: The average reporting rate across all organizations and campaigns was 18.65%, per Proofpoint's 2024 data. Financial services leads at 32.35%. Organizations with mature security cultures and behavior-change programs can reach reporting rates above 20%, per Verizon DBIR 2025.
Q: Do phishing simulation tools store employee passwords?
A: No. Reputable platforms do not store actual passwords. They capture only the fact that a credential entry was submitted.
Q: What is the difference between phishing, smishing, and vishing?
A: Phishing is fraudulent email. Smishing (SMS phishing) is fraudulent text message. Vishing (voice phishing) is a fraudulent phone call. Modern simulation platforms cover all three channels, and increasingly also QR code phishing (quishing).
Q: How does phishing simulation software differ from a penetration test?
A: Penetration testing probes technical infrastructure for exploitable vulnerabilities and is typically performed by an external security firm. Phishing simulation tests human behavior and builds employee awareness through ongoing, repeated exposure. Both are complementary — phishing simulation tests the human layer; penetration testing tests the technical layer.
Q: What is MFA fatigue and can phishing simulations train against it?
A: MFA fatigue is a technique where attackers flood an employee's phone with authentication push requests, hoping the employee approves one to stop the notifications. Cisco's May 2022 breach was achieved partly through MFA fatigue and vishing. Platforms like Proofpoint and Adaptive Security now include MFA-bypass simulation scenarios to train employees to recognize and report this behavior.
Q: Which phishing simulation platform is best for a small business?
A: For small businesses under 50 employees, Brightside AI, Riot, and NINJIO offer accessible options with transparent pricing and rapid deployment. GoPhish is free but requires technical self-management.
Q: What is spear phishing and how does simulation handle it?
A: Spear phishing is a targeted attack using personalized information — your name, your manager's name, a recent project — to increase credibility. Advanced simulation platforms create spear-phishing templates using role-specific and department-specific context to replicate this realism in tests.
Q: What metrics should I track in a phishing simulation program?
A: The four core metrics are: (1) click rate — percentage who clicked the lure; (2) submission rate — percentage who entered credentials; (3) reporting rate — percentage who flagged the email; and (4) resilience ratio — reporting rate divided by failure rate. Track all four over time and benchmark against your industry.
Q: How does AI change phishing simulation?
A: AI enables platforms to auto-generate personalized lure content, adapt simulation difficulty to individual users in real time, and simulate entirely new channels including deepfake voice calls. On the attacker side, AI-generated phishing emails achieve a 54% click-through rate versus 12% for human-written messages — making AI-powered simulation essential to replicate real threats.
Q: What is quishing (QR code phishing)?
A: Quishing embeds a malicious URL inside a QR code image in an email. Because the QR code is an image, not a clickable link, most email security gateways and URL scanners miss it. When the employee scans the code with their phone, they land on a credential-harvesting page. C-suite executives experienced 42 times more quishing attacks than average employees in Q4 2023, per Dark Reading. Several platforms now include QR code phishing simulations.
Q: What happens if an employee reports that a simulation email is suspicious?
A: Reporting is the desired outcome. When an employee uses the reporting button on a simulated phishing email, they should receive a congratulatory message — reinforcing the behavior. Their report data also contributes to the organization's resilience ratio score.
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15. Key Takeaways
Phishing was the most common initial attack vector in data breaches from March 2024 to February 2025, averaging $4.8 million in breach cost per incident, per IBM.
Phishing simulation training reduces click rates by over 86% within 12 months; without training, 33.1% of employees are phish-prone.
The best simulation tools in 2026 combine threat-intelligence-driven templates, multi-channel simulation (email, SMS, voice, QR), adaptive difficulty, and direct SOC integration.
Real breaches at Twilio (2022), Cisco (2022), and MGM Resorts (2023) were all initiated by human social engineering — not technical exploits. Training directly reduces this risk.
Reporting rate is as important as click rate. Organizations that reward reporting build a human sensor network that detects real attacks faster.
Voice phishing attacks surged 442% in the second half of 2024; platforms that simulate only email are already behind the current threat landscape.
Choose platforms based on your organizational maturity: GoPhish for lean teams, KnowBe4 for scale, Proofpoint for integration, Cofense for SOC maturity, Adaptive Security for AI-era threats.
The phishing simulation market is growing at 8.46% CAGR to reach $224.3 billion by 2034 — reflecting sustained enterprise investment in human risk management.
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16. Actionable Next Steps
Run a free phishing security test. KnowBe4 offers a free phishing security test at knowbe4.com that establishes your baseline phish-prone percentage with no commitment.
Map your highest-risk users. Identify roles with access to wire transfers, payroll systems, credentials, or sensitive data. These users need higher-frequency, harder simulations.
Shortlist three platforms. Based on your organization size and maturity, request demos from KnowBe4, Proofpoint, and one specialized tool (Adaptive Security for AI threats; Cofense for SOC integration; GoPhish if budget is the primary constraint).
Add a phishing report button to all email clients. Deploy a one-click "Report Phish" button to Outlook or Gmail before your first simulation campaign.
Run a baseline campaign before any training. Never train before measuring. Your baseline click rate is the number that justifies the program to leadership.
Communicate the program to employees. Frame it as training support, not surveillance. Tell staff that simulations will happen; do not tell them when.
Set a 12-month goal. Target a 50%+ reduction in click rate and a 20%+ reporting rate within 12 months. Review quarterly.
Expand beyond email. Once email simulation is running, add smishing and vishing campaigns — especially for executives and IT help desk staff.
Integrate with your SIEM. Feed employee-reported suspicious emails into your SOC workflow to make the human layer a real-time threat sensor.
Review annually with leadership. Present phish-prone percentage trends, resilience ratio improvements, and breach-cost avoidance estimates in your annual security review.
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17. Glossary
Phishing: A cyberattack that uses fraudulent emails to trick users into clicking malicious links, downloading malware, or submitting credentials.
Smishing (SMS Phishing): Phishing conducted via text message (SMS) rather than email.
Vishing (Voice Phishing): Phishing conducted via phone call, where the attacker verbally impersonates a trusted person or organization.
Quishing (QR Code Phishing): Phishing that embeds a malicious URL inside a QR code image, bypassing URL-based email security filters.
Spear Phishing: A targeted phishing attack using personalized information — the recipient's name, role, or recent activity — to increase credibility.
Phish-Prone Percentage (PPP): The percentage of employees in an organization who click on a simulated phishing email, used as a baseline risk metric by KnowBe4 and others.
Resilience Ratio: The ratio of phishing email reporting rate to failure rate. A higher ratio indicates a stronger security culture.
MFA Fatigue: An attack technique where the attacker floods an employee's phone with multi-factor authentication push requests, hoping the user approves one to stop the notifications.
Very Attacked People (VAP): Proofpoint's term for employees who are disproportionately targeted by real-world phishing campaigns, identified through email security telemetry.
Just-in-Time Training: Training content delivered immediately after an employee fails a phishing simulation — maximizing learning impact at the moment of heightened attention.
Security Awareness Training (SAT): Broad category of employee education programs covering phishing, social engineering, password hygiene, and other cybersecurity topics.
SOC (Security Operations Center): A team and facility that monitors, detects, and responds to cybersecurity threats in real time.
SIEM (Security Information and Event Management): A platform that aggregates and analyzes security event data from across an organization's infrastructure in real time.
PhishER: KnowBe4's tool for automating the triage, analysis, and response to employee-reported phishing emails.
18. References
IBM Security. Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024. IBM/Ponemon Institute, 2024. https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach
Verizon. 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). Verizon, 2024. https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/
KnowBe4. 2025 Phishing By Industry Benchmarking Report. KnowBe4, 2025. https://www.knowbe4.com/resources/reports/phishing-by-industry-benchmarking-report
Proofpoint. Phish Tests Reveal Human-Targeted Threats Are Evolving. Proofpoint, September 8, 2025. https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/email-and-cloud-threats/phish-tests-reveal-human-targeted-threats-evolving
FBI IC3. 2024 Internet Crime Report. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2025. https://www.ic3.gov
APWG. Phishing Activity Trends Report Q4 2025. Anti-Phishing Working Group, January 2026. https://apwg.org/trendsreports/
Hoxhunt. 2026 Phishing Trends Report. Hoxhunt, 2026. https://hoxhunt.com/guide/phishing-trends-report
Secureframe. 60+ Phishing Attack Statistics: The Facts You Need To Know for 2026. Secureframe, August 14, 2025. https://secureframe.com/blog/phishing-attack-statistics
Zensec. Phishing Statistics 2025–2026: The Numbers You Need to Know. Zensec, 2026. https://zensec.co.uk/blog/2025-phishing-statistics-the-alarming-rise-in-attacks/
Global Growth Insights. Phishing Simulation Market Size & Trends 2025–2033. Global Growth Insights, 2025. https://www.globalgrowthinsights.com/market-reports/phishing-simulation-market-118063
TechCrunch. Twilio Suffers Data Breach After Employees Fall Victim to SMS Phishing Attack. TechCrunch, August 8, 2022. https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/08/twilio-breach-customer-data/
TechCrunch. Twilio Hack Investigation Reveals Second Breach. TechCrunch, October 28, 2022. https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/28/twilio-june-data-breach/
Cisco Talos. Cisco Talos Shares Insights Related to Recent Cyber Attack on Cisco. Cisco Talos, August 10, 2022. https://blog.talosintelligence.com/recent-cyber-attack/
Dark Reading. Cisco Confirms Data Breach, Hacked Files Leaked. Dark Reading, August 2022. https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/cisco-confirms-data-breach-hacked-files-leaked
Bloomberg / BleepingComputer. MGM Resorts Cyberattack. September 2023. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/mgm-resorts-cyberattack/
MGM Resorts International. SEC Filing, Form 8-K. October 2023. https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=MGM
Adaptive Security. Phishing Simulation Tools to Strengthen Security Awareness. Adaptive Security, September 25, 2025. https://www.adaptivesecurity.com/blog/phishing-simulation-tools
Symbol Security. 7 Best Phishing Simulation Tools in 2026 (Expert Reviewed). Symbol Security, 2026. https://symbolsecurity.com/blog/7-best-phishing-simulation-tools-in-2026-expert-reviewed/
Guardz. 33 Phishing Statistics in 2025 Every MSP Should Know About. Guardz, December 17, 2025. https://guardz.com/blog/33-phishing-statistics-every-msp-should-know-about/
Keepnet Labs. 2025 Phishing Statistics. Keepnet, January 2026. https://keepnetlabs.com/blog/top-phishing-statistics-and-trends-you-must-know
