A recent study at UC San Diego Health raises questions about the effectiveness of mandatory phishing awareness training, a common cybersecurity training method used across corporate America. The research, conducted over eight months in 2023 with nearly 20,000 employees, examined whether these programs significantly reduce employee susceptibility to phishing attacks.
Evaluating phishing awareness training
The study subjected employees to 10 simulated phishing campaigns to assess if standard annual training improves the ability to recognize and avoid malicious emails. Results showed no meaningful decrease in phishing failure rates, regardless of when employees last completed the training.
Grant Ho, assistant professor at the University of Chicago and co-author of the study, stated, “That suggests the mandatory cyber awareness training did not provide beneficial security knowledge to users.”
Key findings on employee cybersecurity behavior
- Employees who completed training showed only minor improvement, with average phishing failure rates dropping by just 1.7%.
- Immediate post-training results showed high failure rates, indicating limited impact of traditional cybersecurity training programs.
- Engagement with online modules was low: more than three-quarters of employees spent under one minute on the material, and 37–51% closed the training page almost immediately.
Ho noted employees often treat training as an interruption, checking emails or browsing the web instead, reducing retention and attention.
Testing different cybersecurity training approaches
Researchers segmented employees into groups after phishing simulations:
- General cybersecurity tips
- Interactive Q&A modules
- Detailed briefings on the specific simulated attack
- A combination of these methods
- Control group with no follow-up training
Interactive Q&A lessons produced the largest measurable benefit, but only when employees fully engaged. Completion of interactive training reduced susceptibility to phishing attacks by 19%, highlighting the potential of interactive approaches. Low completion rates, however, limited the overall effectiveness.
The study also suggested that employees who voluntarily complete training may already have traits that make them less susceptible to phishing attacks, raising questions about training versus inherent behavior.
Implications for enterprise cybersecurity
Phishing continues to pose a major threat, and relying solely on employee phishing awareness training leaves organizations vulnerable. The researchers recommend a multi-layered cybersecurity strategy, combining training with automated tools to detect and block suspicious messages before they reach inboxes.
Ho concluded,
“Training as it is commonly deployed does not provide sufficient protection from phishing on its own.”
