Your KSAT console records when a user opens a Phishing Security Test (PST) email by using a tracking pixel, which is embedded into all of KnowBe4's PST emails. Upon loading, the pixel will call back to your KSAT console to record if a user has opened their PST email.

Email opens aren't considered a failure on a phishing test and don't contribute to a user's Phish-prone Percentage. A PST will automatically show as opened in certain situations, such as if a user reports the email with the Phish Alert Button (PAB). Additionally, if a user fails your phishing test by clicking a link or opening an attachment, we'll automatically record that email as open in our system, even if the tracking pixel does not load.

Email Opens Not Being Recorded

Some organizations don't allow images in emails to be automatically downloaded. In these cases, email opens can't be tracked because the pixel will not load and won't record the open in PST reports.

If your organization blocks images from being automatically downloaded, there is a method that will allow you to load the tracking pixel and record email opens. See the method below:

Trusted Zone in Outlook

You can create a Group Policy Object (GPO) in Active Directory to update the Trusted Zone in Microsoft Outlook and allow tracking pixels to load without allowing all other PST images to load. The steps to complete this are detailed below:

1. Navigate to your Domain Group Policy Editor > User Configuration > Windows Settings > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer > Internet Control Panel > Security Page.
2. Double-click the Site to Zone Assignment List policy to modify the policy.
3. Enable the policy by selecting the Enabled option.
4. Under the Options area, click Show.
5. From the Show Contents window, enter the phishing link domain used in your test in the Value Name. You can also use wildcards in your entry to indicate a phishing link subdomain.
   • For a complete list of phishing link domains, navigate to the Phishing > Domains tab in your KSAT console. 
6. For the Value, enter "2", which corresponds to "Trusted Zone". 
7. Click OK.

We recommend sending a phishing test campaign to yourself once these settings are saved so you can ensure opens are being tracked successfully.

Preview Pane Open Tracking

If your mail client is set up to download images in the preview pane automatically, phishing test emails will be marked as opened if your user previews them in the preview pane.

If your mail client doesn't download images automatically in the preview pane, it won't show as opened.

Turn Off Open Tracking

You can turn off email open tracking to remove the embedded tracking pixel so that opens will not be recorded in your PST reports. Follow the steps below if you would like to do that.

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