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Cofense PhishMe vs. Hook Security vs. SANS Security Awareness Training

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cofense PhishMe

    Score7.7 out of 10
    Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
    Cofense PhishMe is a cyber threat and phishing simulator meant to be of use in training employees to be wary against threats and also to gain information about general employee threat knowledge and preparedness. A free trial is available for small business.N/A

    Hook Security

    Score9 out of 10
    N/AHook Security aims to help to reduce the risk of security threats to companies, all while creating a positive and productive company culture. They provide phishing testing and security awareness training designed to create a positive and healthy security culture for the company, mitigating risk while being humorous and memorable. Phishing Testing Launches monthly, automated phishing simulations that test users and provide Instant Training Moments to those who…

    $1.50

    per month per user

    SANS Security Awareness Training

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ASANS Institute offers a suite of security awareness training courses, and other specialized security learning, delivered via computer, featuring role-based dynamic training modules.N/A
    Pricing
    Cofense PhishMeHook SecuritySANS Security Awareness Training
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Hook Basic
    $1.50
    per month per user
    Hook Plus
    $2
    per month per user
    Enterprise
    custom
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cofense PhishMeHook SecuritySANS Security Awareness Training
    Free Trial
    YesYesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cofense PhishMeHook SecuritySANS Security Awareness Training
    Considered Multiple Products
    Cofense
    Chose Cofense PhishMe
    Cofense phishing simulation product is one of the best security awareness solutions that our security team has tested. The product is feature-rich and easy to navigate. Awareness templates are numerous to select from and in multiple languages, which is a big plus. Campaign …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cofense PhishMe
    Our previously used product was SANS ACLP. This wasn't an altogether horrible product and for the time we used it the purpose for its use was served. We had multiple issues though with how this product delivered emails, captured clicks, and generated reporting once the …
    Incentivized
    Hook Security
    No answer on this topic
    SANS Institute
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    18 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    18 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    14 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Cofense PhishMeHook SecuritySANS Security Awareness Training
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Cofense PhishMe and Hook Security and SANS Security Awareness Training
    Feature
    Cofense PhishMe
    7.8
    4 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Hook Security
    -
    Ratings
    SANS Security Awareness Training
    9.0
    1 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Single sign-on capability7.44 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions8.24 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Security Awareness Training
    Comparison of Security Awareness Training features of Cofense PhishMe and Hook Security and SANS Security Awareness Training
    Feature
    Cofense PhishMe
    7.3
    4 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Hook Security
    -
    Ratings
    SANS Security Awareness Training
    8.5
    1 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Training Content Library7.24 Ratings00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Multilingual Training Content7.14 Ratings00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Training Gamification7.13 Ratings00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Industry-Specific Security Training7.83 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Individualized Security Training Plans6.93 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Phishing Simulations7.23 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Security Reporting8.03 Ratings00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Integration with Security Tech Stack7.33 Ratings00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cofense PhishMeHook SecuritySANS Security Awareness Training
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Hoxhunt
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Hoxhunt
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Hoxhunt
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Proofpoint Security Awareness Training
    Score10 out of 10
    Proofpoint Security Awareness Training
    Score10 out of 10
    Proofpoint Security Awareness Training
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cofense PhishMeHook SecuritySANS Security Awareness Training
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (28 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    7.3
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cofense PhishMeHook SecuritySANS Security Awareness Training
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cofense
    Cofense PhishMe is an excellent solution for scenarios where it will be sold as a managed service. I believe that PhishMe is too expensive for many clients and instead would benefit from the economies of scale where an MSSP sells it as part of a whole service, which offers the analysts and reporting included. PhishMe is excellent for training and awareness of Phishing, but shouldn't replace mandatory training for new joiners or yearly refreshers, it should only be used as an additional training option.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hook Security
    Hooks has allowed us to be a bit more agile in our training and testing with phishing scams. Hooks reports allow us to identify people who we need more help to identifying phishing emails. By implementing the the monthly phishing campaigns, we can then provide specific training for individual facing issues in particular areas
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SANS Institute
    SANS Security Awareness Training program would be well suited for a large organization that needs to develop multiple training programs with different courses based on the roles of the end users. It seemed a bit difficult at times to achieve simple setup processes because of the configurations tailored to larger, more complex organizations.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cofense
    • It gives clear-cut segregation of different parts of an email, header, text and HTML body, URL, attachments, HTML preview and some analytical insight like "similar reports." This distinctive approach actually helps reduce data overload during an analysis.
    • The URLs captured here pass through an automatic reputation check [in our case VirusTotal] and add a tag of the reputation. If it is a well-known bad URL the tag helps us take the decision fast.
    • For creating automation rules on the reported emails the "Recipes" section is really helpful. We can create easy recipes [or rules ] to handle a huge flow of reports and also we can create more sophisticated rules depending on the Cyber intelligence feed to catch the really bad currently less known attack attempts by malicious emails.
    • The "Threat Indicators" section is also useful to use as a threat intelligence source to check the URLs for their maliciousness.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hook Security
    • Hooks make it easy to generate the reports and gives a through breakdown of campaign details.
    • Users are become more aware of potential threats and avoid them.
    • It integrated easily with O365 deployment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SANS Institute
    • Variety of cyber threat videos and presentations
    • Web based and mobile access to the platform
    • Easy to manage administrator access to configure the training sessions
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cofense
    • Completely switching to the new UI - Most is redesigned, but some old elements remain
    • Ability to spoof known brands - limited in scope now and you are not allowed to use fully "convincing" campaigns that we are seeing in the wild
    • Ability to own and manage own domains - right now adding a new company domain requires a ticket, allow us to add/verify ourselves
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hook Security
    • It would be nice to be able to customize templates even more and brand them.
    • Automatic course enrollment for new employees should be simplified.
    • Interface could be more streamlined.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SANS Institute
    • Mass import of users was a bit confusing
    • User interface was sometimes not intuitive
    • Ability to upload custom content was difficult to use
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cofense
    Its built with UX in mind and is aimed at non-tech people, to ensure that almost everyone can run the campaign. But if we go deeper - sometimes you will need an HTML editor or support in order to figure out some advanced edits you might want to add in your scenarios.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hook Security
    No answers on this topic
    SANS Institute
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cofense
    I have not had to use their support for pretty much anything. The software works well, and is very intuitive. I would imagine their support would be rather basic as there is not too much that can go wrong with a report phishing button, and if it were I would probably consider a different software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hook Security
    No answers on this topic
    SANS Institute
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Cofense
    It's a must, even if you are never going to use the tool. Cofense aims to provide phishing training first and tool second.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hook Security
    No answers on this topic
    SANS Institute
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Cofense
    There are some hiccups, but there are meant to be, when you implement something in a large scale enterprise.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hook Security
    No answers on this topic
    SANS Institute
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cofense
    Cofense PhishMe was the first choice for us as the user interface as well as their bundle package with Cofense Triage and Vision has helped the organisation to alleviate the overall security awareness posture. The other vendors did not provide a vast range of phishing scenarios as compared to Cofense PhishMe platform.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hook Security
    No answers on this topic
    SANS Institute
    We actually are currently migrating to Proofpoint Security Awareness Training because of its integration with the Proofpoint email filter. This will allow us to target specific users who are clicking on bad emails with specific training material. We have used KnowBe4 in the past as well, but it was rather costly compared to SANS Security Awareness Training and Proofpoint. SANS Security Awareness Training seems to be the least easy-to-use interface from an administrative perspective compared to the other two.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cofense
    • Recipes in the system are capable of handling almost 2x what an analyst does, which cuts down the efforts [of] an analyst and provides more time for accurate strategies.
    • With roughly 90% false positives coming through, the remaining 10% of true positives need as much attention as they can get for the full investigation and analysis.
    • 1,500 or more phishing messages can come through in a given week and the amount of time/employees required to review this without a tool like Cofense is surely beyond [the] expected/anticipated budget.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hook Security
    • Ease of enrollment for training new users.
    • Monthly email campaign to test our users.
    • Getting clients to address the fundamentals of cyber security in short and capture behavioral data.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SANS Institute
    • Positive impact knowing we are educating our staff from phishing and potential cyber criminals
    • Considering the potential for bad actors infiltrating our network, this is a small expense
    • Pricing based on actual end users, worth the investment
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cofense PhishMe Screenshots

    Screenshot of Image 1 – Board of Directors (BOD) report showcasing results of your phishing defense programScreenshot of Image 2 – Create New Scenario PageScreenshot of Image 3 – Intelligent Program Automation using PlaybooksScreenshot of Image 4 – Organizational Suspicious Email Reporting StatisticsScreenshot of Image 5 – Phishing Scam Announcement Templates