Vade launches Threat Coach, phishing awareness training

An integrated feature of Vade for Microsoft 365, Threat Coach is a contextualized and gamified training experience that delivers phishing awareness training when users need it most—when they’ve been phished.

Hem (59), 16 September 2020 –  Vade, the global leader in predictive email defense, today announced the release of Threat Coach, an integrated feature of Vade for Microsoft 365 that delivers on-the-fly, contextualized phishing awareness training at the moment of need.

Threat Coach is like a personal cybersecurity coach that gently nudges the user to follow email security best practices. If a user opens a phishing email or clicks on a malicious link, Threat Coach alerts the user and invites them to complete a quick, interactive training session. Generating real phishing samples from Vade 1 billion protected mailboxes, Threat Coach delivers short, gamified training sessions that quiz users on their ability to spot phishing emails and webpages.

The modules are designed to be brief, from one to two minutes, and focus on the basic elements of emails that users—usually non-specialists—can easily detect by themselves, including suspicious URLs and email addresses.

"A corporate user cannot become a phishing specialist,” said Adrien Gendre, Chief Product and Services Officer at Vade, ”let alone take the time to analyze each and every email he or she receives in detail (on average, a corporate employee receives 88 emails per day). Threat Coach training sessions are short and aim to teach users to be vigilant about checking simple elements of the email, which are not recognized at all today due to a lack of training".

Threat Coach training content is personalized at the user level and based on the brand impersonated in the phishing email. For example, if a user clicks on a Microsoft phishing email, the training content will feature real Microsoft phishing emails. Because the content is based on the user’s real experience, unlike phishing simulations, the user is more likely to retain the training and avoid repeating their mistakes. Additionally, Threat Coach can be used proactively. If an admin identifies problem users who click on links or fail training, the admin can create a new Threat Coach campaign and deliver it directly to the user.

Making training accessible and generalized to all users

Threat Coach addresses the underserved market for phishing awareness training designed for MSPs and SMBs. Most phishing awareness training platforms are built for enterprises, with high costs, complicated features, and considerable time and resource commitments. According to Gartner, most security awareness training programs require an average of one FTE (full-time equivalent).

“Only large companies have the means to implement a real training strategy,” said Gendre, “whereas attacks affect all companies. The Threat Coach feature, integrated into our Vade for Microsoft 365 solution, makes training instantly accessible to everyone, and what’s more, at a time when users need it most—when they have been tricked".

Because Threat Coach is integrated into Vade for Microsoft 365, at no extra cost, MSPs and SMBs can provide training to their users without the high costs and added maintenance of an enterprise training platform. For MSPs the advantages are threefold: Threat Coach requires no manual setup or ongoing administration, it complements existing phishing awareness training platforms, and it empowers MSPs to offer clients added value without added costs.

Creating a positive feedback loop between technology and trained, vigilant users

Vade has been advocating a people-centered approach to cybersecurity for years. People are often presented as the weakest link in the security chain, but they can also be an effective last line of defense for the company. Because no cybersecurity solution can detect and block 100% of threats, users need to understand their role and have the tools to detect and report a phishing email that has successfully passed through the layers of protection. By reporting email threats to Vade via the Vade for Microsoft 365 feedback loop, users become part of the email security community and help provide the threat samples that power Threat Coach.

Learn more about Threat Coach.

About Vade

Vade helps MSPs, ISPs, and OEMs protect their users from advanced cyberthreats, such as phishing, spear phishing, malware, and ransomware. The company’s predictive email defense solutions leverage artificial intelligence, fed by data from 1 billion mailboxes, to block targeted threats and new attacks from the first wave. In addition, real-time threat detection capabilities enable SOCs to instantly identify new threats and orchestrate coordinated responses. Vade technology is available as a native, API-based offering for Microsoft 365 or as lightweight, extensible APIs for enterprise SOCs.

To learn more, please visit www.VadeSecure.com and follow us on Twitter @VadeSecure or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/vade-secure/

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Press contacts:
Aurélien Rouby/Laëtitia Berché
Cymbioz
+33 (0)6 70 68 49 32 / +33 (0)6 14 48 02 95
aurelien.rouby@cymbioz.com ; laetitia.berche@cymbioz.com