How to Create a Phishing Report: Tools and Best Practices

A modern phishing report provides a consolidated view of phishing risk across an organization’s entire email and security ecosystem. Rather than functioning as a single exported document, an effective phishing report synthesizes data from DMARC and email authentication systems, secure email gateways, employee-reported messages, SIEM platforms, and threat intelligence tools. 

This centralized visibility enables understanding of who attackers are targeting, which attack techniques are succeeding, and where technical or human controls require improvement. As a result, phishing reporting supports proactive threat reduction, enhances regulatory compliance, and leads to measurable improvements in an organization’s security posture.

What a Phishing Report Typically Includes

An actionable phishing report goes beyond simply counting “bad emails.” To provide real value for security visibility and compliance, it should aggregate the following data points:

Volume Metrics: Total phishing emails detected and blocked over a specific period (daily, weekly, monthly).

Authentication Failures: Data on DMARC, SPF, and DKIM failures, which indicate domain spoofing or unauthorized senders.

User-Reported Data: The number of suspicious emails flagged by employees versus the number of “true positives” (actual threats).

Delivery Status: Comparison of emails blocked at the gateway versus those that reached the user’s inbox.

Source Attribution: Analysis of the most frequent attacking domains, IP addresses, and geographic sources.

Risk Indicators: Trends in attack types, such as Business Email Compromise (BEC), credential harvesting, or malware delivery.

Core Tools Used to Create Phishing Reports

A comprehensive phishing report is the result of a collaborative ecosystem. No single tool provides the full picture; rather, data flows through different layers of your infrastructure.

1. DMARC and Email Authentication Platforms

These platforms serve as your first line of defense, monitoring who is sending email on behalf of your domain. They are essential for stopping brand impersonation.

• How They Help: They translate complex, raw XML reports from ISPs into readable dashboards.
• Key Tools: PowerDMARC, Valimail, Mimecast DMARC Analyzer, and EasyDMARC.
• Key Metrics: Aggregate pass/fail volumes and “Shadow IT” discovery (unauthorized services sending mail as your company).

PowerDMARC

Best For: SMBs, Security-focused Enterprise teams, government agencies, and MSPs.

PowerDMARC goes beyond basic reporting by offering a comprehensive suite of protocols that many other tools treat as add-ons or lack altogether. It is designed for those who want a central “command center” for all things email authentication.

Standout Features: 

• PowerSPF: One of the biggest headaches in DMARC is the “10 DNS lookup limit” for SPF records. PowerDMARC uses advanced SPF Macros optimization to keep your SPF within permitted DNS limits without added complexity, no matter how many third-party senders (like Mailchimp or Salesforce) you use.
• DKIM Analytics: PowerDMARC’s hosted DKIM analytics come with a DKIM key length overview and granular monitoring capabilities to track your DKIM selectors, keys, and performance in real time. 
• Advanced Threat Intelligence Feeds: PowerDMARC integrates AI threat intel into authentication like no other! With advanced threat intelligence feeds that can be seamlessly integrated into your SIEM/SOAR. 

Valimail

Best For: Large enterprises and compliance-heavy organizations (like government or finance) that want hands-off automation.

Valimail is often cited as the pioneer of “automated DMARC.” Their philosophy is centered on Enforcement, not just monitoring. They are the only DMARC provider that is FedRAMP certified, making them a top choice for high-security environments.

• Standout Feature: Precision Sender Intelligence. Instead of showing you a list of confusing IP addresses, Valimail identifies over 5,500 sending services by name. This makes it incredibly easy to see that “Service X” is just your marketing team’s new tool, rather than a mystery hacker.
• No DNS Access Required: Unlike most tools that require you to manually edit your DNS records every time you add a sender, Valimail uses a “hosted” approach. Once you point your record to them, you can manage all your authorized senders inside their dashboard without touching your DNS again.
• Phishing Response: Their Enforce product uses an “Autopilot” mode that moves you to a p=reject policy (blocking all unauthorized mail) as safely and quickly as possible.

DMARC Analyzer (Mimecast)

Best For: Organizations already using Mimecast for email security or those who need deep forensic data.

Mimecast acquired DMARC Analyzer to provide a 360-degree view of email threats. It is a powerful choice if you want your DMARC data to live alongside your Secure Email Gateway (SEG) data.

• Standout Feature: Deep Forensics. While many tools focus on high-level aggregate reports, Mimecast excels at Forensic (RUF) reporting. This allows security analysts to see the specific headers and, in some cases, the actual content of emails that failed authentication, which is vital for identifying the intent behind a phishing campaign.
• Phishing Response: It integrates directly with Mimecast’s Targeted Threat Protection. If an unauthorized domain is identified via DMARC, it can be immediately blacklisted across the entire gateway, protecting all users instantly.
• Implementation: They offer “Managed Implementation” services, which is helpful for companies that have a complex web of legacy email servers and are afraid of accidentally blocking legitimate mail.

EasyDMARC

Best For: SMBs and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) who value a clean UI and ease of setup.

EasyDMARC is widely considered the most user-friendly platform on the market. It’s built for teams that don’t have a dedicated “email security person” and need the tool to do the heavy lifting for them.

• Standout Feature: Reputation Monitoring. EasyDMARC doesn’t just look at DMARC; it continuously monitors your domain and IP addresses against global blacklists. If your domain gets flagged for “spammy” behavior elsewhere on the web, you’ll get an alert before your deliverability drops.
• Phishing Response: Managed SPF & BIMI. They provide a “Smart SPF” tool that guides you through cleaning up your records. Their UI is designed like a checklist, showing exactly what steps remain to reach a “Reject” policy, making it very popular for smaller IT teams.
• MSP Friendly: It features a multi-tenant dashboard and “pay-as-you-go” pricing, which is ideal for service providers managing dozens of different clients from a single screen.

2. Secure Email Gateways (SEG)

The SEG is the primary filter that scrubs inbound mail for known threats before they reach the recipient.

• How They Help: They provide high-volume data on blocked campaigns and malware signatures.
• Key Tools: Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Proofpoint, Mimecast, and Google Workspace Security.
• Key Metrics: Most targeted users (Very Attacked People or VAPs) and threat categorization (phishing vs. spam).

3. Employee Reporting Tools (Inbox Plugins)

Since some sophisticated attacks will always bypass technical filters, your employees act as “human sensors.”

• How They Help: One-click plugins allow users to report emails instantly without losing critical metadata (like full email headers) required for forensic analysis.
• Key Tools: Microsoft Report Message, Proofpoint PhishAlarm, and Cofense Reporter.
• Key Metrics: User reporting rate and “False Positive” rates (how often users flag legitimate mail).

4. SIEM and SOC Platforms

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools act as the “brain,” aggregating data from the tools mentioned above.

• How They Help: They correlate a reported phishing email with other suspicious activity, such as a simultaneous login from a foreign IP.
• Key Tools: Splunk, IBM QRadar, and Microsoft Sentinel.
• Key Metrics: Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Remediate (MTTR).

5. Threat Intelligence and Analysis Tools

Once an email is flagged, these tools help determine exactly how dangerous it is.

• How They Help: They check URLs and attachments against global databases of known malicious infrastructure.
• Key Tools: VirusTotal, AbuseIPDB, and Recorded Future.
• Key Metrics: Indicators of Compromise (IOC) reputation scores and campaign attribution.

Choosing the Right Tools for Your Organization

The complexity of your phishing reporting process should match your organization’s size and risk profile.

The Phishing Reporting Workflow: How it Works

To build an internal phishing report, follow this narrative flow of data:

1. Detection

DMARC tools log attempts to spoof your domain, while the SEG blocks thousands of known threats.

2. Human Layer

A sophisticated BEC (Business Email Compromise) email bypasses the SEG. A trained employee notices the unusual request and clicks their “Report” plugin.

3. Aggregation

This report is automatically sent to the SOC or SIEM, where it is combined with gateway logs to see if other employees received the same message.

4. Enrichment

The security team uses threat intelligence tools to analyze the links in the email, confirming they lead to a credential-harvesting site.

5. Final Report

The security lead generates a consolidated report showing the attack was stopped, which accounts were targeted, and how quickly the threat was neutralized.

The Internal Phishing Reporting Process (SOP)

A standard operating procedure (SOP) ensures that every threat is handled consistently.

Step 1: Submission (Intake)

Encourage the use of one-click reporting plugins. While a dedicated “[email protected]” mailbox works, plugins are superior because they automatically package the email headers, the “digital fingerprint” of the sender, which are often lost when an email is simply forwarded.

Step 2: Triage and Prioritization

Not every report is a crisis. Use automated tools to filter out “noise” (like newsletters or spam). Assign a severity score based on the target (e.g., a C-suite executive vs. a general alias) and the intent (e.g., wire transfer fraud vs. a generic link).

Step 3: Analysis and Investigation

The security team inspects the headers for spoofing, “sandboxes” any attachments to see if they execute malicious code, and checks the reputation of the sender’s IP address.

Step 4: Remediation

If a threat is confirmed, the team must:

• Perform a “Search and Purge” to delete the email from all other employee inboxes.
• Reset credentials if a user clicked a link.
• Update the SEG blocklist to prevent future attempts from that sender.

Step 5: Feedback Loop

Close the loop by notifying the employee who reported the email. A simple “Thank you, this was a real threat” message reinforces a positive security culture and encourages future reporting.

Summing Up

At the end of the day, building a phishing reporting process isn’t just about checking a box or buying fancy software. It’s about making sure your tech and your people are actually on the same team. When you combine smart filters with a crew that knows a “fishy” email when they see one, you stop being an easy target and start being a brick wall. Real security is all about visibility; if you can’t see the attack coming, you can’t stop it.

If phishing reports feel fragmented or overly technical, it’s time to rethink the approach. Centralizing email authentication data, gateway logs, and employee reports into one consistent reporting framework helps security teams respond faster and leadership understand risk clearly.

Strong phishing reporting isn’t about more data; it’s about the right data, presented in a way that drives action. To start making a phishing report for your domain, grab a 15-day free trial and get total visibility into your domain’s security.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why use a plugin instead of just forwarding emails to IT? 

Forwarding often strips away “email headers,” the digital DNA needed to trace the attacker. Plugins package all that technical data perfectly with one click.

How often should we generate a full report? 

Your security team monitors alerts in real-time, but a “big picture” summary for management is usually best once a month.

What is a “good” employee reporting rate? 

Aim for 8% to 15%. You don’t want people reporting every single newsletter, but you want your “human sensors” active enough to catch the real threats.

Can we automate the boring parts of triage? 

Absolutely. Most modern tools can automatically scan links and files against global databases to close “safe” tickets so your team only focuses on the actual dangerous ones.

How do I get my team to actually use the reporting tool? 

Close the loop! When someone reports a threat, send a quick “Great catch!” note. People are much more likely to help when they know their effort actually made a difference.

• About
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Milena Baghdasaryan

Content Specialist at PowerDMARC

Milena is a skilled writer and content creator with 7+ years of experience in crafting engaging content on IT, cybersecurity, virtual events, and more. She has a proven track record of delivering high-quality work for international magazines and is a graduate of prestigious institutions such as New York University Abu Dhabi, UWC China, and the College of Europe.

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