From Fear to Feedback: Report Phishing Channel Works Wonders

CyberHoot believes security awareness should feel positive, empowering, and rewarding. Traditional phishing reporting methods often do the opposite. A “Report Phish” button to often sends emails into an IT black hole, leaving employees wondering if they did the right thing, and rarely hearing back immediately. It’s far better to provide an outlet for employees to help each other with a “Report Phishing Channel” in Slack or Teams (any instant messaging channel) for staff to participate in and help each out out.

A lack of immediate feedback stifles employee learning. Over time, employees will become much less engaged and far less likely to report phishing emails.

Why Traditional Reporting Falls Short

• No feedback loop: Employees never know if their suspicion was correct.
• One-way street: Reporting feels like tossing an email into a void.
• IT overload: Security teams shoulder the burden without leveraging the collective vigilance of the entire workforce.

However, it doesn’t have to be that way.

A Better Way: Positive, Real-Time Phishing Email Reporting

Instead of siloed reports, imagine a shared “Report Phishing Channel” in Slack or Teams dedicated to spotting and reporting phishing. This simple shift turns reporting into a collaborative, rewarding learning opportunity. This approach removes the burden of IT from all but the “contested reports” where an expert must weigh in. It allows, colleagues and phishing aware employees, to help confirm and point out the telltale signs that a potential Phishing email IS a phishing email.

Phishing Email Reports are just the Beginning:

Such channels will often begin seeing SMS or Smishing examples, voice based social engineering comments, and sometimes even Quishing (QR Code) phishing examples. This channel will fill with all manner of social engineering attempts on your company, and that’s a powerful piece of cybersecurity resilience.

This philosophy powers CyberHoot’s HootPhish platform: positive reinforcement, shared learning, gamification, and zero shaming. A collaborative report phishing channel follows these same principles.

Here’s why it works:

• Immediate feedback: Security champions or peers can quickly confirm whether a reported email is malicious or safe.
• Shared learning: Everyone sees real-world examples, learning together in the open.
• Early Warning Benefit: for employees new to the organization, or untrained yet in spotting and avoiding phishing, exposure to these channel reports can help them avoid a malicious phishing email in their inbox in near-real-time!
• Recognition: Calling out and celebrating correct reports builds confidence and pride.
• Cultural change: Employees no longer fear “getting it wrong”, instead, they feel part of the team effort.

How to Launch a Phishing Channel at Work

1. Create a dedicated channel (e.g., #report-phish).
2. Promote curiosity: Encourage “better safe than sorry” sharing, with no shaming.
3. Assign security champions to provide quick, clear feedback.
4. Celebrate contributions: Shout out and sometimes reward employees who catch and report tricky attempts.
5. Recycle examples: Feed the best ones back into CyberHoot using Phishing_Examples@cyberhoot.com.

The Payoff: A Stronger Security Culture

This approach turns phishing defense from a compliance checkbox into a cultural superpower. Employees no longer dodge mistakes themselves. Instead they learn, teach, aid, and strengthen each other.

This is the best way to secure more engagement with fewer facepalms and more high-fives!

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