How third-party anti-spam filters and certain Microsoft Defender configurations can affect phishing results

The results of your phishing training can be affected if you use third-party anti-spam filters or certain configurations in Microsoft Defender. Here's how different solutions impact your training and results.

Some third-party anti-spam solutions, like Vipre, Mimecast, Heimdal, and Harmony, as well as certain configurations in Microsoft Defender can be used to provide additional inbox protection against spam emails.

These solutions do many different things that can ultimately affect the phishing training reports, e.g., email opened, links clicked, and data submitted.

Here's an overview of how different set-ups can impact your training and results.

If your solution...	Your phishing reports/training will be impacted in this way
Filters out emails based on certain criteria, like IP addresses, senders, "phishy content", etc.	You will also need to whitelist in these third party solutions.
Clicks on links in emails to detect where they go	Your phishing campaign reports will show that the user clicked on a link, but it was actually the solution that did it.
Rewrites email links to display the whole URL, so the user can easily see where the link goes	Your phishing campaign reports will show that the user clicked on a link, but it was actually the solution that did it.
Scans/loads email content like images to search for malicious content	Your phishing campaign reports will show that the user opened the email. This is because the tracking pixel (image) was loaded, which tells us that the email was opened, but it was actually the solution that did it.
Clicks on buttons in forms to see where the redirect takes you	Your phishing campaign reports will show that the user submitted data in the form, but it was actually the solution that did it.

Because these anti-spam solutions can impact your phishing results, it's important to consider these effects when you interpret your results. If you have any questions, you are always welcome to reach out to us.

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