Cypher user guide

Overview

Cypher is the AI-powered security awareness training platform. Users complete short, story-driven training sessions that adapt to their role, risk profile, and recent behavior. When someone fails a phishing simulation or triggers an insider-threat alert, Cypher automatically enrolls them in a short micro-lesson to fix the specific gap.

Cypher turns required training into something people actually want to finish. Users earn XP, climb a six-tier level ladder, maintain monthly streaks, and unlock badges. Admins get real training data and compliance reporting.

Key Features

• AI-generated scenarios — THEO builds personalised phishing emails, caller scripts, and physical situations based on company profile and user role.
• Adaptive choice-trees — each session branches based on the choices the user makes.
• Annual and monthly training — cadence-driven assignments that automatically enroll users.
• Remediation micro-training — short lessons auto-assigned after a phishing click, insider-threat spike, or dark-web exposure.
• Compliance training bundles — packaged curricula for standards like HIPAA, PCI, and state privacy laws.
• Gamification — XP, six-tier levels (Recruit → Analyst → Operator → Specialist → Sentinel → Ghost), monthly streaks, and twenty-four badge types.
• Leaderboards — Monthly Score, All-Time XP, and Longest Streak (Complete tier only).
• Phishing campaigns — scheduled or ad-hoc phishing simulations with THEO-generated templates.
• Vishing campaigns — voice-call simulation using generated caller scripts.
• New-hire onboarding — an admin triggers a new user's onboarding curriculum (individually or in bulk) and Cypher assigns the required modules with per-user due dates.
• Adaptive learning — per-user security profile, risk factors, and a recommended learning path.
• MSP admin reports — cross-company reporting for MSPs.
• Security culture score — weekly composite showing trend across a tenant.
• Multiple tiers — Essentials for core training and Complete for gamification and adaptive difficulty. Cypher is included with your plan at no additional per-user charge; your tier decides which features are available, not what you pay.

How To: Complete the Company Setup

1. Open Cypher. The setup wizard walks you through it on first login.
2. Enter company name, industry, and size. This drives the threat profile THEO uses.
3. Add role list (for example Sales, Finance, Engineering, Support). Users are mapped to roles.
4. Pick training cadence (monthly is recommended).
5. Save. Cypher generates a threat profile and provisions initial scenarios.

How To: Take a Training Session (User)

1. Sign in to Cypher.
2. The dashboard shows the next session due — annual, monthly, or remediation.
3. Click Start. A scenario begins — a phishing email, an unexpected call, or a physical situation.
4. Make a choice at each branch. The story adapts based on what you pick.
5. At the end you get a debrief: what was the right move, what the attacker was actually trying to do, and your XP award.
6. Streak counter and level update immediately. New badges appear in Achievements.

How To: Launch a Phishing Campaign

1. Go to Phishing.
2. Click New Campaign.
3. Pick the audience (whole company, role, or individual users).
4. Choose a template from the library, or click Generate to have THEO build a new one — enter a theme (e.g. "package delivery notice") and it produces a subject, body, persona, and red-flag list.
5. Set the send window.
6. Launch. Track opens, clicks, and submissions as the campaign runs.
7. Anyone who clicks a link or submits credentials is auto-enrolled in a micro-training session.

How To: Assign a Compliance Bundle

1. Go to Compliance Training.
2. Click New Assignment and pick a bundle (HIPAA, PCI, state privacy, custom).
3. Pick the users or a whole role.
4. Set a due date.
5. Save. Users see it on their dashboard and are reminded automatically until they finish.

How To: Review Gamification Progress

1. Go to Leaderboard (Complete tier).
2. Toggle between Monthly Score, All-Time XP, and Longest Streak.
3. Click a user to see their profile — current level, streak count, recent badges, and completed sessions.
4. Streaks reset if a user skips a monthly training.

How To: Trigger Micro-Training for a User

1. Open the user's profile.
2. Click Assign Micro-Training.
3. Pick a reason (phishing click, insider threat, dark-web, login anomaly) and a lesson.
4. Save. The user gets an assignment on their dashboard with a deep-link in the reminder email.
5. There is a 24-hour per-user per-trigger cooldown so automated systems do not pile on.

How To: Run a New-Hire Onboarding

1. An admin triggers onboarding for a new hire (individually or in bulk) and Cypher creates the onboarding record.
2. Open the onboarding page to see required modules and due date.
3. The user receives an email with a link to start.
4. Overdue onboarding is flagged daily, and admins are emailed.

How To: Re-generate a Lesson

1. Go to Micro-Training → Lessons.
2. Open the lesson and click Regenerate.
3. THEO rewrites the content using the current company profile and threat list.
4. Review and click Publish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do users pay per session, per month, or per user? No. Cypher is included with your plan at no additional per-user charge — there is no per-session, per-month or per-user price for it. Your Essentials or Complete tier decides which features you get, not what you pay.

What is in Complete that Essentials does not have? Adaptive difficulty, XP leaderboards, automatic enrollment after incidents, micro-training, and custom scenarios. Essentials has monthly cadence, annual training, compliance bundles, and basic reporting.

How often should users train? Monthly is recommended. Annual training is still required for compliance but monthly keeps awareness sharp.

What happens when someone fails a phishing simulation? They are automatically enrolled in a short micro-lesson matched to the specific lapse (link click, credential submission, attachment open).

Do scores and XP reset? Monthly score resets every month. All-Time XP never resets. Streaks reset if a user misses a monthly session.

Can I use my own phishing templates? Yes. Paste your template into the template editor, or let THEO generate one on a theme of your choosing.

Do employees see each other's scores? Only on the leaderboard and only if leaderboards are enabled on your plan. Individual details are visible to admins only.

Where does the threat profile come from? THEO takes your industry, size, and role list and produces a tailored threat profile — which scenarios are relevant, which industries are actively being targeted, what past incidents look like for companies like yours.

Troubleshooting

User reports they cannot start a session. Check that they are logged into Cypher with the right account. Check their assignment list — some sessions are not available until a prior one is completed.

Phishing email never arrived. Confirm the recipient address is correct and that your domain allows send-to-self for simulation purposes. Check the campaign status page for delivery events.

Leaderboard is empty. Leaderboards are Complete-tier only. On the Complete tier, leaderboards refresh every night — results from a fresh signup will show up the next day.

Remediation micro-training was not assigned after a phishing click. The 24-hour cooldown may have suppressed it if another trigger already ran. Check Micro-Training → Stats for the latest assignments on that user.

New-hire onboarding did not create automatically. Confirm the onboarding was actually triggered for that user — Cypher does not create onboarding records on its own. Trigger it from the admin console (individually or in bulk).

Regenerated lesson content is similar to the previous version. THEO may produce similar content when the company profile is narrow. Try adjusting industry tags or role context before regenerating.

User keeps losing their streak. Streaks break if monthly training is not completed in the calendar month. Remind users early and often — training-reminders cron sends notices automatically.