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Phishing awareness training gives employees a practical way to spot suspicious requests, verify them safely, and report them quickly. It cannot prevent every attack, so it works best as one part of a security program that also uses sound procedures and technical safeguards.
Why does a business need phishing awareness training?
Phishing messages can imitate a colleague, supplier, or other trusted contact to prompt an employee to share credentials, reveal sensitive information, or make a payment. Business email compromise (BEC) can have serious financial consequences: more than $6.3 billion was transferred in BEC scams during 2024, according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, as cited by Verizon Business in its 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report. That figure describes BEC transfers, not losses prevented or caused by training.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) places employee training alongside physical security, electronic security, and contractor and service-provider practices as one of four elements of an effective data security plan. Training is therefore not a substitute for controls; it helps employees follow them when a message tries to bypass them.
What should employees learn to do?
Pause when a request is unexpected or sensitive
Employees should be especially cautious when a message creates urgency or asks for payment, credentials, sensitive data, or a change to payment details. A familiar name or convincing tone is not enough to authenticate a request.
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Verify through a known channel
For sensitive or unusual requests, employees should contact the requester using a phone number or other method they already know, such as a number in the company directory. They should not use links or phone numbers supplied in the suspicious message. The FTC advises businesses to make independent verification of emails requesting sensitive information office policy.
Report suspicious messages—and mistakes—promptly
Employees should know exactly how to report a suspicious message and what to do if they clicked a link, opened an attachment, entered a password, or approved a request. A quick report gives the organization a chance to investigate and respond. Make reporting straightforward and non-punitive: employees should not be discouraged from speaking up because they fear blame.
The FTC offers business guidance on protecting personal information, and its small-business cybersecurity resources provide a free starting point for building practical policies.
How should a business organize its training?
Treat training as an ongoing learning and reporting process, not a one-time presentation. The FTC identifies employee training as part of a broader security plan, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides guidance for developing and evaluating security awareness and training programs.
- Use short, relevant instruction: Explain the warning signs employees are likely to encounter and connect them to the company’s verification and reporting procedures.
- Adapt examples to job duties: Staff who handle invoices, payroll, customer information, or account access face different decisions. Tailor examples to those tasks rather than relying only on generic email examples.
- Practice the reporting path: Employees should be able to find the reporting method and understand what information to provide, without needing to decide for themselves whether a message is definitely malicious.
- Use simulations carefully: Realistic exercises can reveal where staff need more guidance. Explain the purpose of exercises, avoid humiliating individuals, and use results to improve instruction and reporting processes.
There is no universally established best interval for every business to repeat training or run simulations. CISA recommends regular training, but the appropriate cadence depends on your organization’s risks, workforce changes, incident patterns, and ability to provide timely follow-up.
How can a business tell whether training is helping?
Completion rates and quiz scores can show whether employees received material and understood basic concepts. They do not show whether people will report a suspicious message or follow verification procedures under pressure. Track reporting and response behavior as well as clicks, and review trends over time to identify where procedures or instruction need improvement.
Verizon Business’s 2025 DBIR reports that users with recent training reported simulated phishing at about 21%, compared with a 5% base rate—roughly a fourfold relative increase. This is an association reported in the study, not proof that training alone caused the difference or that it will predict a particular company’s results.
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People should not have to carry the full burden of stopping phishing. Pair training with clear payment and account-change verification rules, email security controls, and a practiced incident-reporting process. For account protection, CISA says businesses should aim to use phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA); a passkey or physical security key is an example. Check that any authentication method fits your systems and employees’ devices.
NIST’s security awareness and training program guidance can help organizations plan and evaluate a program. A sensible goal is not to promise that no one will ever click, but to make suspicious behavior easier to recognize, safer to report, and less likely to become a costly incident.
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