Huntress Security Awareness Training Alternative
Weighing a Huntress security awareness training alternative? See what managed training includes and when a learner-owned app fits better.
Your IT provider may offer Huntress Managed Security Awareness Training, and you may wonder whether a Huntress security awareness training alternative is worth a look. The answer depends on one thing: who does the work. Managed training is run for the administrator. A learner-owned app is run by each person for themselves. This page explains both, so you can decide which fits your team.
What Huntress Managed SAT is
Huntress is a security company. Its Managed Security Awareness Training, called SAT, is the training side. On its own site, Huntress describes it as expert-backed training and phishing simulations that are managed for you, for companies of all sizes including small business.
Here is what the site describes:
- Story-driven episodes. The content follows characters in a made-up world. Episodes are described as a few minutes long.
- Game elements and hands-on threat simulations, to keep people engaged.
- Phishing simulations based on real threats, with coaching and recovery training for people who are compromised.
- Management by experts. Huntress staff create, curate and schedule the training and the simulations.
- Dashboards showing completion and how often users are compromised.
The promise is clear: you do not need to build and maintain your own training programme. Someone else does that for you. For a company that already uses Huntress for other protection, or whose IT provider resells it, this can be an easy yes.
Managed for the admin versus owned by the learner
These two approaches solve different problems.
Managed training solves the programme problem. Somebody must pick topics, set dates, send reminders, run test emails and report to the owner or to an insurer. A managed service takes that work away. The administrator stays in control, and learners receive assignments.
A learner-owned app solves the habit problem. Each person opens a lesson when they have five minutes, answers questions, and moves on at their own pace. Nobody assigns it. The risk is that nobody checks, so it works best when people want to learn, or when a manager asks them to and checks in.
Here is an example. Say you manage a small property office of twelve people. Your IT provider offers managed training. It would assign videos, send the test emails and give you a monthly report. That is real value if your main worry is evidence that training took place.
Now say your main worry is different. Two staff members have started to handle payments, and you want them to know what to do when a supplier says "our bank details have changed". That is a specific habit. A lesson that practises exactly that case, again and again, may serve them better than a general episode.
Neither answer is wrong. The honest question is: what problem do you need to solve this quarter?
Questions to ask before you choose
- Who is the administrator? If it is your IT provider, find out what they do and what you must still do.
- What do you get at the end? A report, a lower insurance risk, or a change in behaviour? Name the one you need most.
- How long is each session? A long episode is hard to fit in a busy day. Ask how it works for people who are not at a desk.
- Is the language easy? Ask a colleague who reads English as a second language to try a sample.
- What about the people who lead? Managers and executives face targeted attacks that others do not. Ask whether there is content written for them.
What DefSafe does instead
DefSafe is an app of short lessons, about five minutes each, on a phone or in a browser. A lesson has slides with a presenter, then questions that make you decide. The course starts with the basics and goes through accounts, scam messages, devices, information handling, payments, family safety and responding to incidents.
For leaders there is a track called "Managers and Executives". It covers making cyber safety part of daily work, setting clear rules and policies that people can follow, making it safe to report mistakes, identifying the systems and information that matter most, and preparing executives for targeted attacks and incidents. These are the parts a manager owns, and they are the same whether or not an IT provider manages your tools.
The learner owns the progress. There is no dashboard that assigns training to staff and no test phishing emails sent on your behalf.
Side by side
| Managed training service | DefSafe lessons | |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | The provider and an administrator | Each learner |
| Format | Story episodes, games and simulations | Short lessons with slides and questions |
| Time per session | A few minutes per episode | About five minutes |
| Test phishing emails | Included, as described by the vendor | Not included |
| Reports | Dashboards for administrators | Not built for central reporting |
| Content for leaders | Check the vendor's catalogue | A dedicated track for managers and executives |
| Price model | Described on the vendor's site | Described on our pricing page |
Always confirm current details on the vendor's own site.
Who should pick which
Pick managed training if your IT provider already offers it, you need reports, and you want test phishing emails run for you. It removes work from your plate.
Pick DefSafe if you have no administrator, you want people to practise decisions on their own phones, or you are a manager who wants to learn your own part: rules, reporting and protecting leaders. It also suits a person who simply wants to be safer at home and at work.
You can combine them. Let the managed service handle assignments and reports, and give people a place to practise. To compare more products, read our list of the best security awareness training for small business.
Questions people ask
Is managed training better for a small business?
It is better if you lack the time to run a programme. It is not automatically better for changing behaviour. Ask what people will do differently afterwards.
Does a learner-owned app work without a manager?
It can, but results improve when a manager says why it matters, asks people to finish a path, and makes it safe to report mistakes. That last point is a manager's job, not a tool's.
What should a manager learn first?
Know your own role. Our page on cyber security responsibilities by job role shows what managers, finance staff and helpdesk each own. Then read how to protect your online accounts, because accounts are where most problems start.
Learn this in five minutes
The track "Managers and Executives" has lessons that help you: make cyber safety part of daily work, set clear security rules and policies people can follow, make it safe to report mistakes, identify the systems and information that matter most, and prepare executives for targeted attacks and incidents. Each lesson is about five minutes and ends with questions.