I find that emails that adopt an authoritative approach are 25% more likely to draw the (un)desired response from the victim. Typically they will demand the user complete an action, within a certain timeframe instilling a sense of urgency, and outlines the consequences for non-participation. For example, a message claiming to be from the accounts or HR team stating that the payroll system is being migrated to another company and that the employee must follow a link and validate their bank account details by a certain date or their salary can’t be paid into their account on the next pay day.

Greed is another motivator that attackers will use to draw people in. One such example is a message from the company stating that, due to a particularly successful year, a raffle will be held where one employee will win a prize – it could be a gift card, a holiday, or even a car. Everyone is encouraged to click a link to enroll in the scheme.

Opportunistic messages can also be successful. For example a free lottery to win tickets to the Olympics, every tax season we see a spike in emails claiming to be from HMRC, and even the U.S. presidential elections were used to try to trick people.

While these are the types of themes phishers will use, timing is another tactic they employ. Many successful phishing attacks are launched on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons as this is the time people tend to spend clearing their inboxes and can be distracted more easily.

With the growing sophistication of phishing attacks, what can people do in order to protect themselves?

The best form of defence is vigilance, as all too often security controls alone are not enough.


At the very least – ALL electronic communications should be treated with caution. Even a message from a trusted friend or colleague may not be from who it purports to be. In a corporate environment, it’s important that every employee recognises the part they play in the organisation’s security posture as a whole.

If you receive an email attachment that you weren’t expecting don’t just open it – instead check with the sender that they did indeed send it. While it may take an extra 10 seconds, it could save hours or even days if the attachment proves to be malicious.

Everyone should learn how to read URLs to readily identify which are genuine and which aren’t as attackers often try to entice victim’s to click on a link to a website they control by making it look legitimate.

As an organisation, instead of solely relying on technical controls, spend quality time educating the employee base. And I don’t just mean putting up a few posters as these passive techniques, alone, are not enough. You need to take a pro-active approach and immerse people in on the spot training with true-to-life experiences and scenarios. This way user behaviour can be changed and the message is more likely to be remembered.