CyberHoot’s HootPhish Challenge

CyberHoot is proud to introduce the HootPhish Challenge—a fun, timed, and gamified experience that puts your phishing detection skills to the test. This exercise helps you identify phishing threats quickly and accurately, strengthening your cyber literacy skills both personally and professionally.

What Is the HootPhish Challenge?

The HootPhish Challenge trains users how to spot and avoid falling victim to phishing email attacks.  It does so by simulating real-life phishing scenarios. During the challenge, participants review a fictional email and examine 6 or 7 indicators: Sender, Subject, Greeting, Language Quality, Urgency/Emotion, External Links, and Attachments.  The goal is to label them as Safe or Suspicious based on contextual cues. And here’s where it gets exciting: it’s a timed competition, so speed and accuracy are essential!  I don’t know about you, but friendly competition brings my attention into laser focus!

Participants compete to see how quickly they can identify the indicators of phishing and handle each simulated threat, making it a fun learning experience that combines the elements of speed, skill, and security.  Best of all, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, we give you help in the moment via a “Help Me” hover over link.

Why Gamify Phishing Awareness?

Phishing awareness is critical in today’s cybersecurity landscape, but traditional training can feel routine or even forgettable. Gamifying phishing detection, on the other hand, taps into the thrill of competition, making users more alert and engaged. This heightened attention translates to better learning retention, meaning users are more likely to remember what they’ve learned and apply it in real-world situations.

The HootPhish Challenge isn’t just about scoring high—it’s about making phishing awareness stick. By turning phishing detection into a challenge, CyberHoot helps users build muscle memory, enabling them to spot phishing threats faster and more accurately.

Why the HootPhish Challenge Is Essential for Cybersecurity

Phishing attacks are the most common ways cybercriminals breach organizations. In fact, over 90% of cyberattacks begin with a phishing email. The HootPhish Challenge trains users to think on their feet and to face email confidently, efficiently, and securely.  No more anxiety and fearfulness.

Six (6) Key benefits of the HootPhish Simulations:

1. Hyper-Realistic Simulations: traditional attack phishing, for technical reasons must use dumbed down domain names for senders and links. HootPhish, mirrors hackers with real-world examples training users with devilishly difficult examples.
2. Metrics for Every Employee:  unlike traditional phishing tests which yields 3 buckets of users: Failures (~5%), Passers (~40%), and We Just Don’t Know ((~55%), HootPhish simulations yield a scores for every user.  In the actual product, reminder emails engage management to zero in on 100% compliance.
3. Faster Detection of Threats with Improved Accuracy: Users become proficient in spotting phishing indicators under time constraints, simulating real-world pressure. By learning what makes an email suspicious, users develop a more nuanced understanding of phishing tactics.
4. Building Cyber Awareness: The HootPhish Challenge fosters a culture of cybersecurity, with users becoming more alert and aware in their daily interactions with email and other digital communication.
5. 100% Automation: since the delivery of HootPhish phishing simulations is done via a link to a trusted website landing page, there is zero allow-listing to deliver our assignments.  Furthermore, because we are not tricking anyone, the assignments can be auto-chosen randomly and sent without IT’s involvement making HootPhish 100% automated.
6. Positive-Reinforcement May be the #1 Benefit:  fake email phishing uses negative reinforcement to reduce bad behaviors (clicking).  HootPhish uses positive reinforcement to encourage and increase good behaviors (reviewing email components for indicators of phishing).  This rewards users with a positive experience that will be more beneficial to culture, learning, and retention.

Phishing Indicators in the HootPhish Challenge:

During the challenge, just as in the paid assignments, users encounter various common phishing tactics. The indicators you’re taught to inspect closely include:

• Sender: Is the sender’s address legitimate or suspicious?
• Subject Line: Is the subject line too urgent or emotionally charged?
• Greeting: Are they addressing you by name or using a generic greeting?
• Language Quality: Check for spelling and grammar issues, as these are common in phishing attempts.
• Urgency or Emotional Appeal: Does the email try to create panic or urgency?
• External Links: Hover over any links to check where they lead. Suspicious or mismatched URLs are red flags.
• Attachments: Question the file types. Are they an example of a safe or malicious attachment?

How to Get Started with the HootPhish Challenge

Organizations looking to boost their cybersecurity defenses can the paid HootPhish simulation services into their training programs. The HootPhish Challenge is a special offering created on demand for clients to spice things up for employees. 

By combining gamification with essential security training, the CyberHoot’s HootPhish simulations make learning engaging and memorable. It’s an ideal way to train employees on phishing awareness, whether they’re seasoned cybersecurity professionals or new to digital security.

Conclusion

Try the HootPhish Challenge:  it’s more than a training exercise—it’s a transformative experience that prepares users to handle phishing threats ease. By turning phishing detection into a gamified challenge, CyberHoot equips users with the skills and confidence they need to stay safe in a digital world full of cyber threats.

Ready to improve your team’s phishing detection skills? The HootPhish Challenge is here to make cybersecurity training engaging, effective, and unforgettable.

Secure your business with CyberHoot Today!