Guide to Managing Cyber Guru Phishing Campaigns

This article explores how to manage a Phishing simulation campaign in all its aspects.

The first campaign will be available the day after at least one Cyber Guru Phishing license is assigned. Campaigns are identified sequentially, so the first will be "Campaign: C-01".

The campaign will be visible in the "Release Management" section with the status "Pending Approval".

Before working on a campaign, it's important, if you have an MSP role, to ensure that the campaign you are working on belongs to the desired company by checking this information in the "Select a company" dropdown menu in the "Release Management" section.

For a user with the Company Admin role, the menu will not be visible.

The campaign can have different statuses

• pending approval: if the campaign has not yet been approved

• activated: the campaign has been approved and started

• archived: the campaign has ended

Before proceeding with the approval of a Phishing simulation campaign, the platform offers the possibility to review the templates automatically selected by the system. 

In general, it is advisable not to modify the proposed templates, allowing the Machine Learning mechanism to optimize content selection over time based on user behavior and evolving training needs.

Preview a single template

To view a template before sending, simply click on the eye icon in the "Actions" column of the campaign. A preview of the message will open.

You can deactivate a template at any time simply by removing the checkmark in the "Status" column. This way, the template will not be sent to users during the campaign.

However, you can always reactivate the template at any time by re-enabling the checkmark in the same "Status" column.

If the campaign is later recreated, the deactivated template will no longer be automatically selected, as the platform interprets the action as an explicit choice to exclude it.

If a template is deactivated and the campaign is recreated, that template will no longer be proposed. This happens because the platform interprets the deactivation as an explicit choice not to use that template anymore, even if it was previously forced.

Testing a Single Template

If you want to test a single template before the official send, simply click on the eye icon to open its preview, then select the "Test template" button.

At this point, you will be asked to enter the name and email address of the person you want to send the test to. This way, you can verify the content and display of a specific message without involving the entire campaign.

Conducting a Campaign Test

Before approving a campaign, you can perform a template reception test to verify its content and proper functioning. By accessing the "Perform Test" function, you can enter one or more recipients: each time you add a person, their name appears within the input interface, where you can also edit the entered data or remove them.

This feature is useful, for example, when you want to test the campaign in multiple languages: if a user has received the templates in English and you want to conduct a new test in Italian, you just need to change the language parameter associated with that user, without having to re-enter them from scratch.

Campaign Duration

The duration of a campaign is customizable. You can set the start and end dates of the campaign and the time to start sending the templates.

You CANNOT set the campaign start date to today or a past date.

The campaign duration must be CHANGED before the campaign is APPROVED.

The field "Campaign Duration" indicates how many days user interactions with the received templates will be recorded.

For example, P30D indicates that for 30 days from the start of the campaign, any clicks or reports on the templates will be recorded.

The field "Email Sending Duration" indicates how many days the emails should be sent. This value must always be LESS than the campaign duration.

• Recreating a Single Template:

  • How To: Disable the template you want to remove and click the "Recreate" button at the top right.

  • Result: The platform will suggest a new template to replace the disabled one, keeping the others unchanged and active.

• Recreating the Entire Campaign:

  • How To: Disable all active templates and click "Recreate".

  • Result: A new campaign with new templates will be created.

Note: If a template was previously disabled and the campaign is recreated, that template will not be suggested again.

Once all preliminary operations for starting the campaign (testing, modifying duration and date) are completed, it can be approved.

The "Potential Targets" section indicates the number of campaign targets (the number of users who will receive a template during the campaign).

Once a campaign is approved and there are no other active campaigns, it will be marked as ACTIVE starting from the night of approval. However, emails will be sent starting from the specified start date.

It's important to note that, once active, no changes can be made to the campaign, nor to the targets to include or exclude, nor to the duration parameters.

If a campaign is already active and a new one is approved, the latter will remain in the approved state (and not active), because only one campaign at a time can be active for each company. In this state, it is still possible to:

• cancel the approval,

• modify the parameters,
  until it is automatically activated.

The new campaign will automatically become active only when the currently running campaign ends.

When a template is forced, this override is not automatically lost if the campaign is recreated. However, the override is canceled only when the campaign is activated, which happens overnight (not at the time of approval through the user interface).

Even if a template is global (thus usable for multiple companies), the override applies only to the specific company for which it was set. This means that the override does not have a global effect, but is limited to the company for which it was made.