Phishing Email Detection & Awareness System
🔍 About the Task
Phishing is one of the most common and costly cyber attacks faced by businesses today.
Attackers trick users into:
- clicking malicious links
- downloading infected files
- sharing passwords or OTPs
Most successful phishing attacks happen not because of weak systems, but because users don’t know how to identify fake emails.
That’s why companies invest in:
- phishing email analysis
- employee awareness programs
- internal security guidelines
In this task, you will work like a real security analyst, analyzing phishing emails and creating a professional awareness report that businesses can actually use.
🎯 Objective
Your goal is to:
- Analyze real phishing email samples
- Identify common phishing indicators
- Classify email risk clearly
- Explain attacks in simple, non-technical language
- Create an awareness document that helps users avoid phishing attacks
This is security education + analysis, not hacking.
🛠️ Tools You’ll Use
📧 Email Analysis & Investigation
- Public Phishing Email Samples
- Email Header Analyzer
https://toolbox.googleapps.com/apps/messageheader/
https://mxtoolbox.com/EmailHeaders.aspx - Browser Tools
(for checking links, domains, and URLs safely)
📄 Documentation & Reporting
- Google Docs / MS Word / PDF
(for writing a clean, client-ready report)
🧪 Sample Phishing Email (Example)
Below is a sample phishing email similar to what companies receive daily:
Subject: ⚠️ Urgent: Your Account Will Be Locked
Email Body:
Dear User,
We noticed suspicious activity on your account.
To avoid account suspension, please verify your details immediately.👉 Verify Now: http://secure-account-verify[.]com
Failure to verify within 24 hours will result in permanent account lock.
Regards,
Security Team
🔎 Red Flags You Should Identify
✔ Fake or suspicious sender domain
✔ Urgency and fear-based language
✔ Suspicious link URL
✔ Generic greeting (no real name)
This is exactly how real phishing emails look.
✅ What You’ll Do (Step-by-Step)
1️⃣ Collect phishing email samples
2️⃣ Analyze email headers
3️⃣ Inspect sender domain & links
4️⃣ Identify phishing indicators
5️⃣ Classify email risk
6️⃣ Document findings clearly
7️⃣ Create prevention & awareness guidelines
✨ Key Features of Your Report
Your report should include:
✔ Identification of phishing indicators
✔ Email risk classification (Safe / Suspicious / Phishing)
✔ Simple explanation of how the attack works
✔ Clear prevention tips for users
✔ Do’s and Don’ts for employees
📁 Verified GitHub References (Study Only)
You may refer to the following public GitHub repositories to understand phishing email structure, real examples, and datasets for analysis.
❗ Use only for learning and study — DO NOT copy, reuse, or claim content as your own.
🔗 Phishing Email Examples Repository (real samples collected)
https://github.com/rf-peixoto/phishing_pot GitHub
🔗 Phishing Mail Examples for Education (header + body text samples)
https://github.com/autinerd/phishing-mail-examples GitHub
🔗 Phishing & Non-Phishing Email Dataset (labeled data)
https://github.com/sadat1971/Phishing_Email GitHub
🔗 Phishing Dataset for Website/URL Threats (domain + URL dataset)
https://github.com/Phishing-Database/Phishing.Database GitHub
🔗 Phishing Classification (ML Example, optional for deeper study)
https://github.com/Click2Hack/Phishing-Email-Detection-Using-Machine-Learning GitHub
📤 Final Deliverable
You must submit:
- A Phishing Detection & Awareness Report containing:
- analyzed phishing email examples
- identified indicators
- risk classification
- prevention guidelines
- A public GitHub repository with:
- report document (PDF / Doc)
- sample email evidence
- README explaining:
- tools used
- analysis approach
💼 Why This Task Is High-Value
- Used in real corporate security training
- No illegal activity involved
- Strong fit for:
- SOC Analyst
- Security Analyst
- GRC & Awareness roles
- Easy to convert into paid awareness audits
This task teaches you how to protect people, not just systems.
🌟 Showcase Your Work
After completion:
- Share your dashboard design on LinkedIn
- Explain:
- which agency you designed it for
- how the workflow improves efficiency
- Tag Future Interns