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Kendo Pulse vs traditional security awareness training
Traditional awareness programs send phishing tests and assign courses. Simulations show how an employee reacts to a staged attack, not how that person behaves every day. Kendo Pulse measures both.
The short answer
If you need to show how human risk is actually changing, not just who clicked last quarter, you need a risk score built from real behavior as well as tests.
The questions that matter
Question
Kendo PulseTraditional awareness training
What is the risk score built from?
StrongerSimulated attacks, real behavior from proxy and DNS logs, and dark web exposure from an integrated dark web intelligence tool, combined in the HRM layer.Usually simulation results and course completion.
What happens when someone does something risky for real?
StrongerA teachable-moment nudge in Microsoft Teams or Slack, when logs show the risky action.Typically nothing until the next scheduled campaign.
Which attacks can you simulate?
StrongerEmail, SMS, voice, QR code, WhatsApp, attachment, ransomware and deepfake, in bulk or chained multi-vector campaigns.Mostly email, with some programs adding SMS or voice.
How is follow-up training chosen?
StrongerRecommended by AI from how each person actually behaved, delivered in a full LMS.Assigned by group or after a failed test.
What does leadership see?
StrongerA board-level view of where risk sits across the organization.Click rates and completion rates.
Does it use the security tools we already run?
Stronger50+ custom integrations read signals from your SIEM, gateways, EDR/XDR, DLP, dark web intelligence and report-phish button.Usually a standalone platform.
How much setup does it need?Simulations run out of the box; real-behavior scoring needs your proxy, DNS or SIEM signals connected.
Stronger hereLittle beyond a user list, because it does not read behavior signals.
We mark the rows where the alternative is stronger. A comparison that never concedes anything isn’t worth reading.
When the alternative is the better fit
- Your only requirement is an annual compliance training checkbox.
- You cannot share any proxy, DNS or SIEM signals with a risk platform.
Questions to ask any vendor
- Does the risk score change if someone passes every test but behaves riskily day to day?
- Which channels besides email can you simulate, and in bulk?
- What happens at the moment someone does something risky?
- What will my board see, beyond click rates?
See Kendo Pulse on your own environment
Bring your own questions. We will answer them live, on your data, and you can judge for yourself.