Getting Started with Managed Phishing Response
    • 16 Jan 2026
    • 7 Minutes to read
    • PDF

    Getting Started with Managed Phishing Response

    • PDF

    Article summary

    This guide provides step-by-step instructions for integrating our Managed Phishing Response solution with your reporting button. The process includes:

    1. Assigning roles to give your team access to features

    2. Connecting your reporting button to a Red Canary

    3. Configuring automations for your reported phishes

    4. Viewing reported phishes in the Red Canary portal

    Prerequisites

    Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

    • You’re an Admin-level user (needed for Steps 1-2)

    • You have a Microsoft Exchange or Google Workspace email environment

    • You’re using a supported inbox reporting button:

      • KnowBe4 Phish Alert (PAB)

      • Proofpoint PhishAlarm

      • Outlook Report (Built-In)

    1 Red Canary | Assign Roles to Your Security Team

    Assign appropriate user permissions to members of your security team to access Managed Phishing Response. Permissions are role-specific and determine access to capabilities based on your team member’s responsibilities. See the table below for details.

    Role

    Description

    Permissions

    Analyst Viewer

    Allows users view-only access of reported phishes

    • View reported phishes and their assessment

    • View automation triggers and playbooks

    Analyst

    Builds upon Analyst Viewer, allowing users to change assessments and add comments to reported phishes

    • View reported phishes and their assessment

    • View automation triggers and playbooks

    • Modify assessments for reported phishes

    • Add comments to a reported phish’s activity timeline

    Admin

    Grants users advanced permissions to configure Reported Phish Collectors

    • Access the Phishing>Settings page to create and manage Collectors for reported phishes

    • Create and manage automated triggers and playbooks for reported phishes

      Note

      Your content gAdmin users must also be assigned the Analyst or Analyst Viewer role to access the Phishing and Phishing > Settings pages in your portal.

    Responder

    Allows users to configure automations for reported phishes

    • Create and manage automated triggers and playbooks for reported phishes

    Technical Contact

    Allows users to configure automations for reported phishes

    • Create and manage automated triggers and playbooks for reported phishes

    To assign user roles:

    1. Click the user icon at the top right of your Red Canary portal, then click Users & Roles.

    2. Search for a user. If you need to add a new user, enter their email address in the top bar and click Invite.

    3. Assign roles to the user by toggling a role name. Untoggle the role to remove it from the user.

    2 Red Canary | Create a Collector

    A Collector is a dedicated email address that receives user-reported emails from your reporting button. Once connected, all future reported emails will automatically be forwarded to Red Canary for assessment.

    Note

    Most organizations only need one Collector, but you should create additional Collectors if you use more than one reporting button or have multiple email environments.

    1. In the Red Canary portal, go to Phishing > Settings and click New Collector.

    2. On the New Collector page, select one Email Environment and one Reporting Product, then use the Description field to add any context relevant to your user-reported phishing workflows.

    3. Click Save.

    4. On the Settings page, locate the new Collector in the list:

      1. Copy the Collector Address.

      2. Click Setup Instructions and follow the button-specific steps shown in the slide-out panel.

    3 Red Canary | Configure Automated Notifications and User Feedback

    Set up automated notifications to give end-user feedback and keep your team informed about phishing activity. Red Canary uses triggers and playbooks to configure alert notifications and give users feedback on their reported emails.

    Recommendations

    We recommend configuring two types of notifications:

    • Notification #1: Phish: Email your security team and end users when a phishing email is a confirmed Phish.

    • Notification #2: Not a Phish: Email your security team when an email is confirmed Not a Phish.

    While additional internal notifications such as Slack or Teams can be configured, we recommend email alerts as the minimum default setup.

    Supported Interpolation Variables

    The following variables are supported for reported phishing playbooks, which you’ll use when customizing the notifications.

    Attribute

    Example

    Description

    Assessment

    $ReportedPhish.assessment

    The Assessment of the reported phish, either tbd, phish, or not a phish

    Assessment Summary

    $ReportedPhish.assessment_summary

    The reasoning behind or additional notes around the Assessment

    Collected At

    $ReportedPhish.collected_at

    The time when the reported phish was collected by Red Canary

    Collector Description

    $Collector.description

    Details about the reporting environment associated with the Collector that collected the reported phish

    Collector Email Environment

    $Collector.email_environment

    The email environment where the reported phish collected by the Collector originated

    Collector ID

    $Collector.id

    The unique Red Canary identifier for the Collector that collected the reported phish

    Collector Reporting Product

    $Collector.reporting_product

    The reporting product used to report the reported phish collected by the Collector

    Email From

    $ReportedPhish.email_from

    The sender of the reported email

    Email Message ID

    $ReportedPhish.email_message_id

    The Message ID of the email (from the Message-ID header)

    Email Origination Date

    $ReportedPhish.email_origination_date

    The Origination Date of the email (from the date header, in UTC)

    Email Reply To

    $ReportedPhish.email_reply_to

    The reply to address of the reported email

    Email Subject

    $ReportedPhish.email_subject

    The subject of the reported email

    Email To

    $ReportedPhish.email_to

    The recipients of the reported email

    Previous Assessment

    $ReportedPhish.previous_assessment

    The previous Assessment of the reported phish before it was changed

    Reported Phish ID

    $ReportedPhish.id

    The unique Red Canary identifier of the reported phish

    Reporting User Email

    $ReportedPhish.reporter_email

    The email address of the user who reported the phish

    Notification #1: Phish

    Set up notifications to alert both your team and the user who reported the email whenever an email is confirmed as a phishing attempt (Assessment status=Phish).

    1. In your Red Canary portal, navigate to Automation.

    2. Click Configure new trigger, then select When a Reported Phish assessment changes.

    3. Click Add condition and set it to Reported Phish Assessment is Phish.

    4. Next to the newly created trigger, click Connect playbook, then Create a new playbook.

    5. Name the playbook “Phishing Assessment (Phish).”

    6. Click Add Action, then scroll down and select Send Email.

    7. Add your email details for alerts to your security team. For example:

      • To: security@domainName.com

      • Subject: domainName Validated Email Phish Service

    8. Click the Template dropdown and select Reported Phish Summary.

      Example: Confirmed Phish Summary Template

      Here’s an example of how the template looks as an email notification:

    9. Click Save.

    10. Click Add Action, then scroll down and select Send Email.

    11. Add your email details for sending feedback to users using supported interpolation variables. For example:

      • To: $ReportedPhish.reporter_email

      • Reply to: No Reply To email set

      • Subject: You caught a phish! $ReportedPhish.email_subject

    12. Click the Template dropdown and select Custom Freeform Email with Markdown rendered into HTML.

    13. Add a custom message using supported interpolation variables. For example:

      You caught a phish! Initial analysis of your suspicious email submission has revealed a 
      phishing threat. A service ticket for this investigation has been opened on your behalf 
      and demo's Information Security team will conduct further investigation. At this time, 
      no further action is required on your part. You may receive follow-up communications and
      a final notification from the security team once the investigation is complete. 
      If you have questions or concerns regarding this matter, you can contact the 
      Information Security team at [security@demo.com](mailto:security@demo.com).
      
      **Assessment:** $ReportedPhish.assessment  
      **Assessment Summary:** $ReportedPhish.assessment_summary
      
      Thank you for your diligence in keeping demo safe from cyber threats!
    14. Enable Send via custom SMTP relay / server (advanced) to ensure the email comes from your own server and not Red Canary.

    15. Add your SMTP details. For example:

      • SMTP From Email Address: security@domainName.com

      • SMTP Host: smtp.office365.com

      • SMTP Port: 587

      • SMTP Username: demo@domainName.com

      • SMTP Password: *****

      • Enable STARTTLS: True

      • SMTP Authentication Method: Plain

    16. (Optional) Enable Require Approval if you want someone on your team to approve sending the email notification to the user.

    17. Click Save.

    Notification #2: Not a Phish

    Set up notifications to alert both your team and the user who reported the email whenever a reported phishing attempt is verified as a false alarm (Assessment status=Not a Phish).

    1. In your Red Canary portal, navigate to Automation.

    2. Click Configure new trigger, then select When a Reported Phish assessment changes.

    3. Click Add condition and set it to Reported Phish Assessment is Not a Phish.

    4. Next to the newly created trigger, click Connect playbook, then Create a new playbook.

    5. Name the playbook “Phishing Assessment (Not a Phish).”

    6. Click Add Action, then scroll down and select Send Email.

    7. Add your email details for sending feedback to users, using supported interpolation variables. For example:

      • To: $ReportedPhish.reporter_email

      • Reply To: No Reply To email set

      • Subject: Phishing Email Submission Analysis Complete: $ReportedPhish.email_subject

    8. Click the Template dropdown and select Custom Freeform Email with Markdown rendered into HTML.

    9. Add a custom message using supported interpolation variables.

      Example: Custom Freeform Email Message

      Thank you for your diligence in keeping DEMO safe from cyber threats! 
      The Information Security team has analyzed your potential phishing email submission
      and determined that it does not appear to contain malicious links or attachments.
      Nevertheless, the email may still pose a threat if you do not know the sender, feel
      the email content is suspicious or targeted, or doubt its authenticity.
      If you have additional concerns, or if you believe that you have received this message
      in error, please contact the Information Security team at security@demo.com.
      
      Assessment: $ReportedPhish.assessment
      
      Assessment Summary: $ReportedPhish.assessment_summary
      
      ---
      
      #### Email Restoration
      Please note, after reporting a suspicious email by clicking the Phish Alert button in
      Gmail, reported emails are moved to the Trash folder. To restore them, follow the 
      steps below: 
      
      1. Open Gmail
      2. Click "Trash" in the left sidebar
      3. Find the reported email
      4. Select the email > click "Move to" > choose "Inbox" or desired folder
      5. The email will be restored to the selected folder. Note that emails in 
      Trash are permanently deleted after 30 days.
      
      Thank you!
    10. Click Save.

    4 Red Canary | View Reported Phishes

    View all reports directly in your Red Canary portal. These reports provide full visibility into the email's contents and metadata, both before and after Red Canary completes its Assessment, allowing you to monitor emails that are still pending an Assessment decision.

    To learn more about navigating a reported email, see Navigating Phishing Reports in Red Canary.


    Was this article helpful?

    Changing your password will log you out immediately. Use the new password to log back in.
    First name must have atleast 2 characters. Numbers and special characters are not allowed.
    Last name must have atleast 1 characters. Numbers and special characters are not allowed.
    Enter a valid email
    Enter a valid password
    Your profile has been successfully updated.