Case Study: Hood College cuts phishing click rates and boosts security awareness with KnowBe4

KnowBe4 and Hood College Protecting Higher Education One Email at a Time

Hood College, a private liberal arts institution in Frederick, Maryland, faced rising phishing attacks targeting its community of roughly 450 staff and more than 2,000 students. To reduce successful phishing attempts and improve awareness across campus, Hood College deployed KnowBe4’s Security Awareness Training and the KnowBe4 Student Edition.

KnowBe4 implemented a three‑pronged program of simulated phishing campaigns, new‑hire and ongoing training, plus the Phish Alert Button for easy reporting. The results include a drop in simulated click rates from 12% to 10% (trending toward a 6% goal), improved awareness across more than 2,500 staff and students, nearly 40% of students (845) completing Student Edition with positive ratings, and over 200 suspicious emails reported monthly—freeing IT time previously spent investigating incidents.

Hood College

Eric Bender

System Administrator