My love affair with KnowBe4
Updated July 05, 2022
My love affair with KnowBe4
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training
We use the KnowBe4 platform for our quarterly and targeted phishing exercises. This has helped us ramp up the phishing and social engineering training portions we are required to implement as a business in a regulated space.
- Customer service - We selected the option to have some of our services managed by a KnowBe4 rep and that has been great in keeping up with advancements, content and reporting.
- Platform functionality - The platform does not leave the admin wanting with various options for education pieces, phishing templates, video content, posters and other informative pieces that are plug and play via email, web and more.
- Real-time exercise reporting - When we're performing an exercise, we have the ability to see in real time how the exercise is being received, outcomes and other metrics to help future exercises.
- PhishER - We've heard a lot about PhishER and while I'm a proponent for it, it's still being finalized whereas other vendors have come to us with ready to use products like it which are... ready to use.
- False positives - On occasion we have some false positives or negatives where a user has made the right or wrong choice and it's been noted incorrectly.
- Reporting - Navigating the reporting portion of exercises is not easy in the platform. Best to get the managed services portion to help sort through that.
- Rather than simply hoping our associates aren't clicking on links, we're able to see it in a control environment which helps us get the right education to the right people - at the right time.
- Using the platform for phishing exercises has helped us show even higher up associates who thought "they were ungetable" that they are not immune to potential threats.
- Utilizing other content from the platform has helped streamline communications and content so we aren't having to reinvent the wheel each time we provide communications or education to associates.
- Cofense PhishMe and Proofpoint Security Awareness Training (formerly Wombat Security)
When we looked at other vendors, we felt like the platforms were relatively similar in that they would help us provide phishing exercises and education to our associates. What really set them apart was the great customer service we received from the sales team through each of the managed services partners we've had along the way. We've always felt like a priority.
Do you think KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training's feature set?
Yes
Did KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training again?
Yes
I'm a firm believer that we all learn differently. Some are good with reading (books, articles, white papers, etc.) while others are visual learners (multimedia, infographics, etc.). The content offerings have given us real opportunities to provide educational touchpoints that meet the learning needs of our associates. I'm hopeful we can incorporate some of the other gaming functions next year.
I am a one person team on our security awareness team so having an easy to use functionality and support aspect has been paramount to our success. I work with our HR team to get a new list of associates a few days before and our KnowBe4 managed services team load it to our platform. After I create the template or adapt one of the system or community templates I then let the other key need to know stakeholders in on the date and time. On the day of the event, I monitor it as it runs in real time. After that, I work with the managed services team to get reporting.
For us while the actual clicker(s) are important, we also want to know what groups or teams seem to be missing the mark the most. Also, we compare clickers to our clean desk walkthroughs to see if there is a systemic problem there too. Overall, while our C-suite wants to know who is most at risk, for us it becomes more of a who is at risk not just because of behavior but also of system access too.
KnowBe4 Compliance Plus
I think a lot of the content is engaging and also has timely throwbacks to pop culture (movies, music, etc.). While it’s general in nature so any organization regardless of size or industry can use it, it’s not watered down and boring. I utilized their posters for on-site events, videos and games online in our security section for associates to use and tip sheets/communications which helped me not have to start from scratch each time a need came up.
Having the ability to have all of my compliance and security (or most of them) met in one place is not only a great option, but one that helped me solidify the aspect of “thinking and acting like an owner” that our company prides itself on. In addition, when we’ve had to take data from one place to another and then another to formulate reports (platform results to excel to PowerPoint) it was sometimes lost in translation.
While I do think it’s convenient, I didn’t love the tiers of packages. It seemed like there was a chasm between bare bones and all the bells and whistles. Our organization was in an intermediate place so while we needed more than a Fiat, we didn’t need the entire Cadillac. I felt like we had to choose either one or the other with little option in between.
Needs change and we are no different from other companies who, when evaluating options for training like this look to the competitive options available. I see it like when one purchases family photos. There’s a plan option that includes A, B, C, D and then others which are all tiered to meet needs.
KnowBe4’s option is not only among the most competitive in pricing compared to others, but also is great for an organization to start, build onto and grow into.