Google: Direct Email Creation
Direct Email Creation
Direct Email Creation (DEC) is a feature that connects to your O365 with a few required API permissions. This feature creates the phishing simulation email directly in the user’s inbox instead of sending the emails over SMTP protocol.Key Benefits:
Remove false positives that whitelisting tools cause when analyzing links.
Eradicate maintenance and challenges of whitelisting for the purpose of email delivery (you may need to whitelist in your URL protection solutions such as Defender or ZScaler)
Very simple and quick setup (can be completed in a couple of minutes!)
This page explains how to use the Direct Email Creation feature in Google Workspace. Please follow the steps below to set up DEC settings within your Google Workspace.
First Settings on Platform
Please follow the steps below to make the necessary settings on the platform for the Direct Email Creation feature to be connected within your Google Workspace.
Log in to the platform
Go to Company > Company Settings > Direct Email Creation page.
Click the + NEW button and select Google Workspace.
Fill in the following fields.
Configuration Name: Give a name for your DEC settings.
Client ID: Copy the Client ID ( 102720780747216042586 ).
Select your domain(s) under the Domains field.
IMPORTANT: The selected domain(s) must be Verified on the Allowed Domains page and must be used in your Google Workspace. Otherwise, the selected domain will not work with this DEC configuration.
Do not close this tab. The Save button will remain disabled until the configuration works. Please proceed to the following section.
Seconds Settings on Google Workspace
Please follow the steps below to make the necessary settings for the Direct Email Creation feature to be connected to your Google Workspace.
On the left-hand side, go to Security > Access and Data Control > API Controls.
From the API Controls page, click on the "Manage Domain-wide Delegation" button under the "Domain-wide Delegation" field.
Click on the Add New button.
Enter the Client ID ( 102720780747216042586 ) into the Client ID field.
Enter the following URLs into the OAuth Scopes field.
https://mail.google.com
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.insert
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify
Click on the Authorize button.
Complete Final Settings and Test Email Direct Creation Feature
Now, we will complete the process in this section, test the connection between Google Workspace and the Direct Email Creation feature, and see if we can successfully create an email in the user's inbox.
Go to your Company > Company Settings > Direct Email Creation settings page.
Click on the "Send Test Email" button to test the email creation.
To: Enter the recipient's email address who will receive the test email in their inbox.
The email domain must be the domain that was selected previously in the Domains field.
From: Enter an email as a from address.
Sender Name: Enter a sender name.
Message: Enter a message for test purposes.
Click on the Send button to create the email in the user's inbox. If successful, please click the Save button to complete the configuration.
If the test is not successful, please see the Troubleshoot section.
How to Launch Phishing Campaign by DEC Settings
Go to Phishing Simulator > Campaign Manager from the main menu. Click on + NEW to create a phishing campaign and launch it to your target users.
When you get to the Delivery Settings page, inside of the Email Delivery field, select your DEC settings.
Set up the rest of the settings as you wish, and then click on Next to go to the last page.
Review all of your settings and click the Launch button to create phishing simulation emails in the selected target user's inbox.
Video Tutorial
This video tutorial explains how to configure direct email creation settings and launch a campaign with these settings to create phishing emails directly in the user's inbox instead of launching with the SMTP option.
Troubleshoot
If you test the DEC configuration and the test is not successful, please try the following options.
Please make sure the domain you selected in DEC settings is Verified in the Allowed Domains page. If it is not, please verify it.
Please ensure the domain you selected in DEC settings is used in the employee's email address as main domain in Google Workspace.
Please try to launch a phishing campaign to the test emails with DEC settings via Campaign Manager. Then, go inside the campaign report and go to the Sending Report menu. You can see more technical information if you hover your mouse over the delivery Error status.
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