Phishing continues to be one of the primary attack mechanisms for bad actors with a variety of endgames in mind, in large part because phishing attacks are trivial to launch and difficult to fully protect against. Some phishing attacks target customers rather than employees, and others simply aim to damage your corporate reputation rather than compromise your systems. A key factor in protecting your business from phishing is to understand your vulnerabilities, weigh the potential risk to your business, and decide what tools offer the best protection to match your business needs.
Why phishing is successful
Most phishing attacks are less about the technology and more about social engineering. It’s amazing how easily humans are manipulated when emotions are triggered. Many modern phishing emails play on empathy or fear, or even make hostile accusations in order to trigger an angry response.