Email Open Tracking in Phishing Security Tests

In order to track if a user opens a simulated phishing email, we embed a tiny, invisible image in each email we send during a campaign. If this image is downloaded, we consider the email “opened”.

Sometimes, if a user has turned off automatic image downloading, the open may not be tracked. This is often the case in email clients like Outlook.

Email opens are not considered a failure on a phishing test and do not contribute to a user's Phish-prone percentage.

What if my user opens the email in the preview pane?

If your mail client is set up to automatically download images in the preview pane, phishing test emails will be marked as opened if your user previews it in the preview pane. Conversely, if your mail client doesn't download images automatically in the preview pane, it won't show as opened.

Automatic image downloading is turned off in my environment, so why is it showing an email as opened in my phishing test results?

If a user fails your phishing test by clicking a link or launching an attachment, we will automatically record that email as "open" in our system, whether that image loaded or not.

If you wish, you can turn off email open tracking (which will also remove the tracking image) so that we only track clicks. This can be done by editing your Account Settings, by following the steps below.

1. Log in to your KnowBe4 account.
2. Click on your email address on the top-right and click Account Settings.
3. Navigate to the Phishing Settings section.
4. Click the checkbox next to Disable Email Open Tracking.