In short: HacWare is a fully automated security awareness training and phishing simulation platform sold through IT providers. It sends AI-generated phishing simulations on a set cadence, delivers training videos of three minutes or less with quiz questions, and handles reminders, escalation and new-starter training automatically. It works with Outlook and Gmail, and content is in English and Spanish.
What HacWare is
HacWare is a security awareness training platform built for IT providers and the organisations they support; it is sold through the channel rather than direct. Its central idea is automation: once it is set up, phishing simulations, training, reminders and escalations run without anyone having to build a campaign each month.
It is one of the standalone security awareness training vendors we supply, alongside usecure and Breach Secure Now, and it is often a good fit for smaller organisations with no time to administer training. See security awareness training for small businesses.
How HacWare works
AI phishing simulations. HacWare mines the web daily for emerging phishing threats and uses AI to turn them into simulations that reflect real attacks. They are sent automatically at a cadence we set, and HacWare uses what it learns to find each person's points of susceptibility, so the tests stay realistic rather than repeating the same template.
Outlook and Gmail. HacWare integrates with both Outlook and Gmail. For Outlook users, it can inject simulations directly into inboxes rather than relying on normal mail delivery, which makes them look and arrive like real mail.
Micro-training. When training is due, staff receive a short educational video of three minutes or less, with pop quiz questions to check understanding. That keeps each lesson small enough to finish without disrupting work.
Reminders and escalation. People who do not complete training are reminded automatically, and an escalation policy brings in leadership when someone keeps falling behind, so nothing quietly lapses.
New-starter training. New employees are enrolled into training automatically, which supports a proper security induction for new starters.
Risk insight. HacWare runs human-error risk assessments and measures costly behaviours, so you see where the weak points are rather than just who clicked last month. It also includes a policy manager and curated security newsletters that keep awareness going between lessons.
Compliance lesson plans and content
HacWare's learning management system (LMS) includes pre-built lesson plans. As well as everyday security topics and secure coding, it covers nine compliance areas:
| Lesson plan | Typical relevance in the UK |
|---|---|
| ISO/IEC | Organisations certified to, or working towards, ISO/IEC 27001 |
| PCI DSS | Any business that takes card payments |
| CIS (Control 14) | Organisations using the CIS Controls, where Control 14 covers security awareness and skills training |
| NIST | Organisations following NIST frameworks, often because of customers or parent companies |
| SOC 2 | Service and software providers that report to clients against SOC 2 |
| HIPAA, FACTA, FISMA, SOX | US rules, relevant mainly to UK firms with US operations, parents or clients |
The LMS is not in every tier: see HacWare plans. For UK data protection specifically, pair HacWare with our guidance on GDPR training for staff and information security awareness training.
Video and quiz content is available in English and Spanish, with Spanish versions of many lesson plans. HacWare says more languages are planned.
Built for IT providers
- White-label branding: the IT provider's logo appears across the client-facing parts of the service rather than HacWare's
- Multi-tenancy: providers manage many customer organisations from one partner portal
- Fast set-up: HacWare describes tenant deployment as taking minutes
- API access for providers who want to connect HacWare to other tools
For you as the customer, this means the programme looks like it comes from your IT team and is managed alongside your other services.
Plans and licensing
HacWare publishes three tiers: Pro (unlimited email phishing, micro-training, risk assessments, a policy manager and automated reporting), Plus (Pro with the LMS) and Super (Plus with unlimited SMS phishing). It is licensed per user on monthly or annual terms. Read the detail, including how these tiers appear on our ordering account, on our HacWare plans page, and see licensing on softwarelicensing.uk. For pricing, ask us for a quote.
Who HacWare suits, and how we help
HacWare suits you when you want awareness training that genuinely runs itself, you use Outlook or Gmail, and you value short, frequent lessons over long courses. It is less suited to organisations that need content in many languages beyond English and Spanish (compare Sophos Phish Threat or Guardz), or that want dark web checks and a formal security risk assessment bundled with training (compare Breach Secure Now).
We set up your tenant, sync users, choose the lesson plans, set the phishing cadence and escalation contacts, then review results with you each month as part of managed security awareness training. See all options in the platforms compared table.
Contact us to start automated training with HacWare.
HacWare plans
How Forever Systems runs your awareness programme
We are vendor-independent. We compare the security awareness and phishing simulation platforms that suit your size, sector, Microsoft 365 licensing and existing security tools, recommend one, then run it for you so training and phishing tests actually happen month after month.
- Baseline phishing simulation to see where you start
- Platform selection and set-up, with single sign-on and automatic user sync from Microsoft Entra ID or Google Workspace where the platform supports it
- A year-round plan of short training modules, simulated phishing campaigns and policy sign-off, including new-starter induction
- Sector and role content for schools, charities, healthcare, legal, finance, public sector and high-risk roles such as finance teams and help desks
- Reporting for the board, auditors, insurers and Cyber Essentials, showing completion, reporting and click trends
- Joined-up defences: email security, MFA, endpoint protection and dark web monitoring so training is backed by technology
Forever Systems Ltd provides IT and cyber security services to UK organisations. Pricing depends on user numbers and platform, so ask us for a quote.
Want help choosing and running security awareness training?
Tell Forever Systems what you need and we will come back to you by email with options, not a hard sell.
Contact usFrequently asked questions
What is HacWare?
HacWare is a fully automated security awareness training and phishing simulation platform sold through IT providers. It sends AI-generated phishing simulations, short training videos with quiz questions, reminders and escalations without manual campaign building.
How long are HacWare training videos?
HacWare training videos are three minutes or less, with quiz questions to check what each person has learned.
Does HacWare work with Microsoft 365 and Gmail?
Yes. HacWare integrates with Outlook and Gmail. For Outlook users it can also inject phishing simulations directly into inboxes, so they arrive like real mail.
What languages does HacWare support?
HacWare content is available in English and Spanish, with Spanish versions of many lesson plans. HacWare says more languages are planned.
Can HacWare train new starters automatically?
Yes. HacWare enrols new employees into training automatically, so starters are covered without anyone having to remember to add them.