Welcome to Hook Security! This checklist will cover everything needed to get started and keep you on track during the onboarding process.
1. Gain Access to your Hook Security Account
Receive a welcome email from our platform https://portal.hooksecurity.net/
Use your email for the username and create a new password upon your first login.
2. Review the Onboarding Video
- Security Awareness Training Goals
- Walking through Interactive Onboarding Guides
- How to Get Started on the Platform
- How to Set Up a Phishing Campaign
- How to Set Up the School Settings
- How to Enroll Users in Courses
3. Setup & Deliverability
(a.) Verify Target Domains - Target domains must be authorized to send simulated phishing emails, training campaigns, and course enrollments to your targets.
How to Verify Target Domains
The Authorization that comes to your email, will look something like this:
(b.) Add Targets to a Group - Here are the available resources about Creating Groups & Adding Targets.
You will see we have 3rd party auto-syncing integration options such as Azure/Microsoft Graph, Google Workspace, etc. but you may also import your targets manually using a .csv file.
- How to import via CSV
- How to Integrate with Google Workspace
- How to Integrate with Azure/Entra/Microsoft Graph
You can download our blank .csv file template here!
(c.) Complete Safelisting - You will need to safelist/whitelist before running phishing campaigns, training campaigns, or course enrollments.
Use the listed IP addresses in the follow guides to safelist in your email client:
How to Safelist in Microsoft Defender
How to Safelist in Google Workspace
If you utilize an additional email security vendor that filters messages, such as Mimecast or Proofpoint, please safelist IP addresses and sending domain in those programs as well.
(d.) Test an email in your environment - When safelisting is complete, send yourself a preview & test email to ensure that your safelisting is effective.
Watch this quick video on how to send a Preview & Test email.
If the email lands in your inbox successfully, you can move on to the next steps!
4. Roll out Training: Choose Your Journey!
- If you are running your own phishing simulations:
- Follow this guide and short video on How to Set Up a Phishing Campaign!
- The video will remind you to add the domains needed for safelisting from each template you use.
- Please remember that each template you choose to use on a campaign has a different sending domain, and therefore would need to be added to your safelisting settings. You can view the sending domains for the templates you choose from the Template Library under "Manage Templates" in your account. Be sure to safelist template domains prior to sending yourself a test preview and launching a phishing campaign to users. Image example below:
2. Opt into the Campaign of the Month Service (if included in your subscription plan):
a. Campaign of the Month is when our team will run one simulation per month on your behalf. As an admin, inform your Customer Success Manager if you would like to opt into the Campaign of the Month once your Setup & Deliverability onboarding items are completed.
b. Your email address will be added to receive our monthly Preview Notification emails, which includes the details of the upcoming campaigns. The Preview Notifications are sent on the 1st of each month, giving you a heads up on what to expect (scheduled date, email template, training video, sending domain, etc.).
c. We curate the campaign templates 6 months in advance, so if you would like to safelist the preset domains used on the monthly tests upfront, please refer to the Campaign of the Month Domains for January 2025 - June 2025 guide.
3. If you are utilizing the School Portal to create Course Enrollments:
a. Enroll Targets/Group(s) into Training Courses - you can follow How to Enroll Targets in Courses in this guide, which also includes a step-by-step video!
b. Before creating your first course enrollment, we recommend reviewing your School Settings to configure how you would like your end users to access their course training.
TIP: The token link option is the most favored. This feature allows users to receive their own unique link within the enrollment emails that take them right to their personal learning dashboard, bypassing a login page. Otherwise, you could use the default username/password or SSO method depending on your preference.
c. If you would like to communicate to your teams about starting security awareness training, feel free to use our correspondence templates to help with your messaging. This guide includes our Training Notification eBook!
Congratulations! You've reviewed the necessary steps to setup your account and get started with your preferred training. If you have any questions or concerns about onboarding, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager.
For technical needs, please contact our Support Team at support@hooksecurity.co.
Remember, you have access to the Resource Guides within your portal account when you need technical instructions to implement settings such as group syncs, SSO, generating reports, and more! Those are found under Resources > User Guide in your account menu.
Our public Help Center guides are also available on our website for anyone to access technical instructions if needed.