If 1 user has an E5 or Plan 2 license, can phishing simulations be sent to all other users? Can that user track the results of everyone, like statistics on who clicked the phishing email?

Question

If we don't care about the training and only want to be able to run the phishing campaign and see reports and statistics about which users click on phishing emails from the campaigns, do we need to every user to have an E5/Defender Plan 2 license? Can the rest of the users be E3/Defender Plan 1 licensed and still get phishing emails sent to them?

We already have training developed in-house and just want to use Microsoft's tools to run phishing campaigns and track statistics about the campaign.

Answer 1

Dear mtest

Have a nice day! Thank you for posting to the Microsoft community. We will be happy to help you!

First of all, we regret for the inconvenience caused to your work. Based on your description, I have a general understanding of your question, to run phishing simulations and track results using Microsoft's tools, please kindly check following information

1. Licensing Requirements:
   • Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E5 licenses are required to use the Attack Simulation Training feature
   • If only one user has an E5 or Plan 2 license, they can set up and manage the simulations, but all users who will be targeted by the simulations also need to have the appropriate licenses
2. Tracking and Reporting:
   • The user with the E5 or Plan 2 license can track and view detailed reports on who clicked the phishing emails and other relevant statistics
3. Mixed Licensing:
   • Unfortunately, to run phishing campaigns and track statistics, all users who will receive the phishing emails need to have either an E5 or Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 license Users with only E3 or Defender Plan 1 licenses will not be able to participate in the simulations or be included in the reporting.

In addition, if you need please kindly check more details as following

1. Simulate a phishing attack with Attack simulation training - Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | Microsoft Learn
2. Get started using Attack simulation training - Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | Microsoft Learn
3. Phishing Attack Simulation Training | Microsoft Security

Meawhile, if you still need further help or I misunderstood your meaning, please kindly correct me and share more details with me so that I can do more research and tests, thanks.

Thank you in advance for your understanding. Your patience and cooperation will be greatly appreciated. Hope for all the best!

Sincerely

Kerry Chen | Community Moderator