SE-B-03Level 1 · Signal
Opens simulated attachments
A risky behavior signal from the simulation platform: the person opened an attachment in a simulated phishing message or enabled its content.
Classification
- Risk domain One of 9 areas of human risk, from social engineering to readiness and response. Every signal belongs to one.
- Evidence level
- Maturity practices One capability a program performs, scored on its own: See, Understand, Act, Prove, Govern and Culture.
- Leads to The kind of breach the evidence beneath it points toward, each anchored to a Verizon DBIR or VERIS pattern or an FBI IC3 category.
- NIST CSF 2.0
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- PR.AT-01
- MITRE ATT&CK
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- T1204.002
The definition, in detail
Definition
It shows the behavior that lets malware run.
Example
A paralegal opens a simulated court-notice attachment and enables macros when the document asks for them.
How it is measured
- Subject
- Person
- Event
- phishing.simulation.attachment.opened
- Risk domain
- Social engineering
- Provenance
- Forrester
How it is used
Programs count "Opens simulated attachments" per person from Awareness & phishing simulation and read it beside the other Social engineering signals; it feeds 0 cohorts, 0 sequences and 2 breach scenarios.
A "opens simulated attachments" event is evidence of behavior under pressure. It is one observed action, and on its own it is no proof of compromise.
Technical mappings
Framework mappings; validate for your use case.
Library indicators
The detailed observations in the indicator library with the same risk domain, dimension and polarity as this signal.
- I.0001Opens real phishing emails
- I.0005Clicks links in real phishing emails
- I.0013Replies to emails from unknown or spoofed senders
- I.0015Opens attachments from quarantined email messages
- I.0016Opens attachments from email messages with unknown senders
- I.0018Marks legitimate security alerts as junk messages
- I.0019Replies to flagged phishing emails after warning
- I.0020Downloads attachments from emails with mismatched display name and sender
- I.0021Configures a mailbox rule that bypasses security controls
- I.0026Accepts file transfers from unknown external contacts
- I.0028Attempts to bypass attachment blocking by renaming files
- I.0029Adds potentially risky domains to "safe senders" list
- I.0030Replies all with external recipients
- I.0031Deletes security banner before sending messages
- I.0037Interacts with calendar invites that may pose security risk
- I.0039Clicks links in SMS messages from unknown senders or as part of SMS phishing simulation
- I.0040Enables macros in untrusted documents
- I.0041Accesses shortened URLs from unknown sources
- I.0042Attempts to download content from email messages with blocked external images
- I.0043Accepts redirected links from unknown domains
- I.0044Accepts shared file invites from spoofed domains
- I.0045Clicks unsubscribe links in unsolicited newsletters
- I.0046Opens encrypted messages from unverified senders
- I.0050Disables or tampers with emails security controls
- I.0051Opens simulated phishing emails one or more times
- I.0052Clicks links in simulated phishing emails
- I.0053Enters credentials on websites linked from simulated phishing emails
- I.0054Opens file attachments to simulated phishing emails
- I.0055Fails to report simulated phishing emails after opening
- I.0056Deletes simulated phishing emails without reporting
- I.0057Responds to simulated phishing emails
- I.0061Opens simulated SMS phishing messages
- I.0062Responds to simulated SMS phishing messages
- I.0063Fails to report simulated SMS phishing messages
- I.0066Does not respond to simulated fraudulent MFA prompts
- I.0067Marks simulated fraudulent MFA prompts as mistaken
- I.0093Reports low confidence in phishing-related self assessments
- I.0117Opens shortened URLs from unknown senders
- I.0243Demonstrates susceptibility to authority exploitation
- I.0244Demonstrates susceptibility to urgency and scarcity pressure
- I.0245Demonstrates susceptibility to fear and intimidation
- I.0246Demonstrates susceptibility to trust and familiarity abuse
- I.0247Demonstrates susceptibility to reciprocity and obligation
- I.0248Demonstrates susceptibility to curiosity and novelty triggers
- I.0249Demonstrates susceptibility to greed and reward motivation
- I.0250Demonstrates susceptibility to empathy and helpfulness
- I.0251Demonstrates susceptibility to commitment and consistency
- I.0252Demonstrates susceptibility to social proof and herd mentality
- I.0253Demonstrates susceptibility to overconfidence exploitation
- I.0254Demonstrates susceptibility to fatigue and cognitive overload
- I.0255Demonstrates susceptibility to fear of missing out (FOMO)
- I.0256Demonstrates susceptibility to sympathy manipulation
- I.0257Demonstrates susceptibility to pretexting deception
Continue exploring
"Opens simulated attachments" (SE-B-03), Human Risk Management Framework v2.0.0, Living Security, CC BY 4.0. https://www.humanriskmanagement.com/taxonomy/signals/se-b-03-opens-simulated-attachments
Part of the open HRM Taxonomy, CC BY 4.0. Download the taxonomy as JSON · Version history. This page describes one signal.
The initial assessment
Find your level.Then fix what matters.
18 questions, about 4 minutes and nothing to type before the result: your level, a score for each practice and three first playbooks, each Easy, Medium or Hard.