(Tampa Bay, FL)– February 7, 2017 – To help organizations manage the ongoing phishing problem, KnowBe4, provider of the most popular platform for security awareness training and simulated phishing, today launched the Social Engineering Indicators (SEI) training method. SEI turns every simulated phishing email into a tool IT can use to dynamically train employees how to spot red flags within any email. If overlooked, these social engineering red flags can lead to a security breach or ransomware infection.

The state of end-user security is in serious decline. Phishing emails continue to skyrocket (Q2 2016 had more identified phishing attacks than any other quarter in history) and social engineering is the number one tactic cybercriminals use to get past network security software. Today, 93 percent of phishing emails contain ransomware and are one of the top concerns of security professionals.  Antivirus can’t keep up.  Virus Bulletin recently reported that proactive antivirus detection rates have dramatically declined over the past 12 months.

According to Cisco’s recently released 10th annual cybersecurity report, “Spam accounts for nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of total email volume, and our research suggests that global spam volume is growing due to large and thriving spam-sending botnets. According to Cisco threat researchers, about 8 percent to 10 percent of the global spam observed in 2016 could be classified as malicious. In addition, the percentage of spam with malicious email attachments is increasing, and adversaries appear to be experimenting with a wide range of file types to help their campaigns succeed.”

That’s where the new patent-pending SEI training method helps manage the problem. If a user clicks on a KnowBe4 SEI-enabled simulated phishing attack, they are routed to a landing page that includes a copy of that phishing email showing all the red flags. Users can then immediately see the potential pitfalls and learn to spot those indicators in the future.

“Old-school security awareness training is ineffective. Once-a-year breakroom training with coffee and donuts doesn’t keep the bad guys out,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4. “Users need effective training and frequent simulated phishing attacks to recognize the clever tactics the bad guys use in social engineering. Employees are the last line of defense against cybercriminals.  By creating a human firewall that can identify threats and avoid them, we can manage the problem much more effectively. SEI is a new-school approach toward security awareness training that helps end users learn how to make better security decisions.”

For more information visit www.knowbe4.com