Sophos introduces ‘Phish Threat’ attack simulator

Sophos has launched Sophos Phish Threat, an advanced phishing attack simulator and training solution that is fully integrated with the company’s cloud-based security management platform, Sophos Central.

According to the company, with centralised management and automated campaign analysis, Phish Threat dramatically reduces the time and resources required to affect real change in employee behavior when faced with sophisticated and rapidly evolving cybercrime techniques.

Phishing remains one of the most common attack vectors for hackers who exploit end-user behaviour as the weakest link in a company’s cyber-defences. Traditional online security training programmes are academic, blind to the current attack landscape and disconnected from the rest of IT security management, making it burdensome for IT managers to effectively integrate anti-phishing into routine risk assessments. Sophos Phish Threat automates the entire training process and provides visual analytics to identify vulnerable users. The Sophos Phish Threat attack simulator and training platform is managed alongside other Sophos security solutions within Sophos Central to provide rapid risk detection and incident response.

“Phishing has evolved in lockstep with the ‘Malware-as-a-Service’ phenomenon,” commented Bill Lucchini, senior vice president and general manager for the Sophos Cloud Security Group. “For years, criminals have disguised attacks in email and today SophosLabs sees phishing emails as a primary delivery method for ransomware payloads. Preventing users from succumbing to phishing attacks can seem like an uphill battle. However, with Sophos Phish Threat, IT managers now have sophisticated, integrated threat intelligence that combines the strength of Sophos security technologies with a product that tests, trains and analyses human vulnerabilities. This creates a very powerful solution for businesses struggling to keep ahead of organised cybercrime and unwary end-users.”

Sophos Phish Threat enables IT managers to create authentic phishing simulation and training sessions, and initiates course corrections for their employees. This helps end-users better recognise what a phishing attack looks like and learn from their mistakes should they get lured into taking the bait. As attacks change with current events, changing seasons and attacker methodologies, Sophos Phish Threat constantly updates its testing framework to reflect real-world threats. IT managers can craft bespoke simulation campaigns for office locations worldwide, just as many cybercriminals are now designing threats tailored by geography.