How to Whitelist by Email Header in Google Workspace

The below instructions will show you how to whitelist KnowBe4's simulated phishing emails and training notifications by email header in your Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) environment. This article reflects our most up-to-date best practices for whitelisting with your provider. Please be aware that your mail service provider may make changes to how their systems analyze our emails at any time.  If you are having issues whitelisting using the procedure below, please contact our support team and they will be happy to assist you.

This setting is only recommended if you have a cloud-based spam filter in front of Google Workspace. If you are using Google Workspace for your mail without an additional spam filter, you can instead whitelist by IP address using this tutorial. Remember, you will also need to whitelist KnowBe4's IP addresses or hostnames in your cloud-based spam filter to make sure emails are delivered successfully.

We recommend setting up a test phishing campaign for yourself or a small group after you follow the below steps to ensure your whitelisting was successful. The setting may take up to an hour to propagate to all users so wait at least an hour before testing.

1. Log on to https://admin.google.com and click Apps.
   
   
2. Click Google Workspace then Gmail.
   
   

   

3. Click Compliance
   
   
4. Navigate to the Content Compliance section.
5. Click Add another rule.
6. Under the Email messages to affect field check Inbound and Internal - receiving.
7. Click Add below the Expressions tab.
    
   • From the first drop-down menu, select if ANY of the following match the message.
   • From the second drop-down menu, select Advanced content match.
   • In the Location field, select Full headers.
   • In the Match type field, select Contains text.
   • In the Content field, enter the header text. The default KnowBe4 header is X-PHISHTEST. 
     

     Note:

     It is recommended that you change the default header to a custom header or header token for enhanced security. You can change the header settings for your account from the Account Settings page. For more information, see our How to Edit Your Account Settings article.

   • Click SAVE
8. In the If the above expressions match, do the following field, select Bypass spam filter for this Message under Spam.

Your Final Content Compliance Setting Screen

Still need assistance? Submit a support ticket and we can help.