13 December 2023 • Cyber security
In 2024, phishing will still be the most-used method by cyber criminals to hack their way into organizations.
And no matter how good your firewall and other security measures are, every once in a while a phishing email will reach one of your employees. That’s why it’s essential to train your employees on how to recognize a phishing email and how to act once they find they’re dealing with phishing.
Old-fashioned methods such as long-winded instruction videos, PowerPoint presentations, or in-person training are often not effective. These passive methods allow employees to slack off, and simply check off the training from their to-do list.
On the other hand, anti phishing games and quizzes make for an active and fun learning experience. But with a wide variety of games on the market, it can be difficult to figure out which game fits your team best.
In this article, I’ll share the best anti phishing games out there. Let’s dive in!
The best phishing games for employees in 2024
- Guardey
- Phishing Quiz: Jigsaw
- CSI: Phishing Game
- FTC’s Phishing Quiz
- Missing Link
- ProProfs Quizzes
1. Guardey
Guardey is a security awareness game built especially for employee training. During weekly challenges that take three minutes to complete, employees learn about cyber security in a playful manner. Because employees are actively learning about security every week, they slowly build up knowledge and tangible behavior change takes place.
One of the main topics of Guardey’s training content is phishing. You learn about the principles of social engineering and get challenged to figure out which emails are real and which ones are phishing. After each question in the challenge, users get in-depth feedback and insights about what they did right or wrong. Other training topics include password security, ransomware, deepfakes, and more.
Every Guardey user starts the game by founding their own fictional company. By playing the challenges, they get to improve their reputation and earn money. In the leaderboard, users can see which colleagues are getting the best scores in the game. They can also win badges. These gamification elements make for great participation rates.
Guardey is a great pick for any organization that wants to drive lasting behavior change in their employees. But if you’re looking for a one-time quiz, this is not the best pick for you.
Pros
- Built on gamification
- Weekly challenges that take 3 minutes
- Ability to customize content
Cons
- It’s not free, but comes with a 14-day free trial
Start a free Guardey trial
2. Phishing quiz: Jigsaw
If you’re looking for a phishing game that is completely focused on phishing, this quiz by Jigsaw is worth a try. What strikes me first is the beautifully straightforward design. Many of the games I come across are simply poorly designed. Designers often opt for overly childish and busy designs because of the word ‘game’, but that’s not the case here.
The quiz questions are also of high quality. Every challenge is followed up by to-the-point feedback that teaches you what you did right or wrong.
There’s one issue with this quiz. With 8 questions, it’s on the short side. This can be fun to boost employee awareness once, but this awareness will quickly wear off. Real behavior change only happens after regular training.
But if you’re looking for a one-off quiz, this is a good one.
Pros
- Free
- Get started in one minute
- Beautiful design
Cons
- Only focused on phishing
- Not a long-term training solution (only 8 questions)
3. CSI: Phishing Game
As the name of this anti phishing game suggests, you will take on the role of investigator in CSI: Phishing. The organization you work for has been breached and it is your job to find out where the attack came from. You get access to the organization’s social media accounts, emails, and so on.
By judging the messages, you get to spot which messages are phishing and which aren’t.
You can’t try out this game for free, so you’ll need to request a demo on their website to learn more about it. The costs are also not available on the website.
Pros
- Creative concept
- Good questions
Cons
- No transparent pricing
- No free trial
4. Missing Link
Another fun quiz that works well if you’re looking for a one-off. This phishing quiz was put together by an American university and can be played for free by anyone.
In the example above, you’re asked to point out the clues that prove you’re looking at a phishing email. After doing so, you get an explanation for each clue. This direct feedback is a great way to learn.
Since it’s a short quiz, this is a fun cyber awareness boost for your team, but can’t be viewed as a proper training solution.
Pros
- Free to play
- Fun way to learn
Cons
- Not suitable for recurring training
- Only focuses on phishing
5. Proprofs User-generated Quizzes
Proprofs is a website that enables its users to create their own quizzes. As a result, there are also a bunch of phishing-related quizzes on the platform. With a wide variety of choices, there are a couple of good ones and a couple of not-so-good ones.
The issue with these user-generated quizzes is that you have no idea who put them together. In the case of Guardey, the game questions are put together by cyber security specialists and educationalists. In these cases, it could be the outcome of a student project.
Either way, it’s worth taking a look.
Pros
- Wide variety of quizzes
- Free to play
Cons
- User-generated, so quality is unclear
- Not for regular training
Drive employee behavior change Guardey’s anti phishing game
If you’re looking for a game to play once or twice with colleagues, any of the above options will do just fine.
But if you want to use gamification to drive real behavior change and protect your company from data breaches — Guardey is the best bang for your buck.
