How the HacWare Phish Reporter Button Works in Microsoft Outlook
- HacWare
- 5 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Phishing emails remain one of the most common ways attackers gain access to company systems. The fastest way to reduce risk is to make reporting suspicious emails simple for employees. That is exactly what the HacWare Phish Reporter button is designed to do.
This article explains how the HacWare Phish Reporter works inside Microsoft Outlook and what happens behind the scenes when a user reports an email.
If you have not installed the Phish Reporter yet, follow this step by step guide first.
Where the Phish Reporter Appears in Outlook
Once installed, the HacWare Phish Reporter button becomes available directly inside Outlook.
To use it correctly, the user must first open an email. When an email is open, the Phish Reporter button will appear and become enabled in the Outlook ribbon or message actions menu.
This ensures the reporter always captures the full contents of the selected email.
How to Report an Email Using the Phish Reporter
Reporting a suspicious email takes just a few seconds.
Open the email you want to report
Select the HacWare Phish Reporter button
When the Report Phishing dialog appears, select Report
Once Report is selected, HacWare automatically analyzes the email and takes the appropriate action.
What Happens After You Report an Email
What the user sees next depends on the type of email that was reported.
If the Email Is a HacWare Phishing Simulation
If the reported message is a HacWare phishing simulation email, the user will receive a Congratulations message.
This confirms that the employee successfully identified and reported a simulated phishing attempt.
In this case
The email remains in the inbox
The report is logged for training and performance tracking
No action is taken against Microsoft security systems
This positive reinforcement helps build good reporting habits without disrupting normal work.
If the Email Is Not a HacWare Simulation
If the reported email is not a HacWare simulation, the Phish Reporter treats it as a real world threat.
The user will receive a Report Confirmation message, and the following actions occur automatically.
The email is removed from the inbox and moved to the Spam folder.
The message is submitted to the Microsoft Threat Submission Center.
Your email administrator may receive a notification of the report
The full email including attachments and message headers is forwarded to your designated HacWare Phish Reporter contact
This ensures both Microsoft and your internal security team can investigate the threat quickly.
Where Phishing Reports Are Sent in HacWare
All reported emails are forwarded to the Phish Reporter contact configured in your HacWare account.
This contact can be viewed or updated by navigating to
Settings
Company Profile
From there, administrators can specify which user or mailbox should receive reported emails for review and follow up.
Why This Matters
The HacWare Phish Reporter turns employees into an active part of your security defense.
It helps organizations
Detect real phishing attacks faster
Reinforce security awareness training
Reduce dwell time of malicious emails
Centralize phishing reports for investigation
By making reporting easy and consistent inside Outlook, HacWare helps reduce human risk without adding friction for end users.