US Patent 9053326 Simulated phishing attack with sequential messages

Described herein are methods, network devices and machine-readable storage media for conducting simulated phishing attacks on an individual so as to educate the individual about the various ways in which phishing attacks may be disguised. Specifically described is a simulated phishing attack involving a sequence of messages. At least one of the messages has an associated target action that would ordinary, if the attack were an actual phishing attack, result in the individual's personal information and/or computing device becoming compromised. In the simulated phishing attack, no malicious action is actually performed. At least one of the other messages is designed to draw attention to the message with the target action.