Attackers moved to text, voice and deepfakes. Your training library did not follow. Most people skip the long videos, and the tool you bought as a bundle with your email gateway treats awareness as an afterthought.
Email-only testing leaves most of the real threat untested.
This post lists what to demand from your next vendor, clears up common myths, and shows how to compare options.
What to Demand From Modern Software
Use this checklist when you evaluate security awareness training software this year:
- Multi-channel simulations. Email, SMS and voice, including AI-generated deepfake content.
- Multi-turn scenarios. Real attackers hold a conversation. Your tests should too.
- Short, adaptive training. Look for 60-90 second modules, built for the person’s role and delivered at the moment of failure.
- A living risk score. It should update from simulation results, behavior and signals from your existing stack.
- Automated response. The platform should adjust simulations, assign training or restrict access for high-risk users.
- Audit-ready exports. You need a paper trail for SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA reviews.
Myths That Cost You Money
Myth: “A high completion rate means low risk”
A 100% completion rate tells an examiner nothing about actual exposure. Completion measures attendance. Risk measures behavior.
Myth: “Email testing covers the threat”
Many attacks never touch the inbox. Voice and SMS pretexting skips your email filters entirely. Train for the actual channel, not just email.
Myth: “Bundled awareness tools are good enough”
A tool added to a gateway as an afterthought tends to inherit the gateway’s focus. Ask whether the training side gets real product investment.
How to Compare Your Options
Run a short test before you commit. Ask each vendor to cover the same roles and channels. Then check three things:
- Reach. Do the test messages arrive in the inbox and on the phone?
- Signal. Does the report show behavior, or only completions?
- Effort. How much setup does your team need, and who runs campaigns each month?
If you already use a larger vendor, read up on proofpoint security awareness training alternatives only after you know your own gaps. List what your current tool cannot measure. Then use that list to judge every candidate, including the newer ones. A parallel run of 30 to 60 days is a safe way to validate before you cut over at renewal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which security awareness training is the best?
The best tool is the one that tests the channels attackers use and measures behavior. Judge it by your checklist, not by a library size or a completion chart.
What are some good alternatives to my current email-security vendor?
Start with your gaps. If you need voice, SMS or role-based scoring, filter for those first. Then pilot two or three options with real users.
How fast can a team start?
With Cimento, setup takes under an hour from your team and most teams are live within two business days. It connects to your identity provider and HR system.
Does short training actually work?
Passive videos get skipped. Short modules that arrive right after a simulation tie the lesson to what just happened, which makes it harder to ignore.
The Cost of Staying Email-Only
Every month on an email-only program is a month where voice and text attacks go untested. You get clean completion reports and no view of real exposure. Then an attacker uses the channel you never measured.
