Email fraud is accelerating and evolving. In 2024 alone, phishing remained the most common type of cyberattack, and business email compromise (BEC) caused more than $2.7 billion in losses across over 21,000 reported incidents. Despite the growing awareness, email continues to be a prime entry point for cybercriminals for one simple reason: we rely on it constantly. It's how we send invoices, share sensitive files, negotiate deals, and confirm payments, making it a high-trust channel that threat actors are increasingly exploiting.
What makes these attacks even more dangerous today is their sophistication. AI-generated phishing emails now account for nearly half of all BEC messages, often indistinguishable from legitimate communications. These messages are crafted with perfect grammar, mimic familiar sender details, and may even respond dynamically to targets. As a result, email scams have become more convincing, more evasive, and more damaging than ever before.
And yet, many organizations still depend solely on default spam filters and outdated training to defend against these threats. That’s no longer enough. As criminals evolve their tactics, the case for stronger, smarter email security grows more urgent. For organizations that haven’t yet invested in comprehensive email protection, now is the time to reassess the risk. The question is: how do you convince leadership to take that next step? One that is supported by:
- Advanced email security platform with real-time intelligence to block even the trickiest phishing messages
- Vigorous training program to help employees spot and report phishing attempts before they become a threat
Here are eight ways to help you gain executive buy-in.
1. More people are taking the bait
Humans are naturally vulnerable to phishing because these scams are designed to exploit our emotions and cognitive shortcuts. Phishing attacks succeed not just because of technical trickery, but because they tap into behavioral patterns — urgency, fear, trust, or curiosity — that prompt quick, instinctive decisions. The goal of phishers is to get targets to react—not reflect—by triggering fast, automatic thinking. These attackers use psychological principles and heuristics (mental shortcuts we rely on to make quick judgments) to bypass rational decision-making and extract sensitive information before the recipient even realizes what’s happened.
2. Attacks are more convincing
Modern social engineering attacks have become the norm and they’re getting smarter. Unlike traditional “spray and pray” phishing campaigns that target thousands of users with generic messages, today’s attacks are increasingly precise and personalized. Spear phishing and business email compromise (BEC) scams are engineered to bypass conventional security filters and manipulate individual employees with carefully crafted context-aware messaging. These targeted attacks are not only harder to detect, but also far more lucrative for threat actors. In fact, recent data shows that BEC emails are more likely to deceive employees than generic messages appearing to come from well-known brands. The human element remains the weakest link, and attackers are getting better at exploiting it.
3. Remote work opens new doors for phishers
With distributed teams relying heavily on email and digital messaging platforms to communicate with colleagues, clients, and vendors, cybercriminals are exploiting this increased dependency to launch more targeted and convincing phishing campaigns. The lack of in-person verification and casual hallway conversations means employees are more likely to trust digital requests at face value, especially those that appear urgent or authoritative. Remote workers also face greater distractions and are more prone to errors, such as misdirected emails or accidentally sharing sensitive files, increasing the risk of data exposure or financial loss. In today’s environment, where email is the default mode of business interaction, these risks are only growing.
4. When burnout hits, so do phishers
Mental burnout can have serious repercussions for business security, as overwhelmed employees are more susceptible to making mistakes, such as sending emails that compromise the business security policies. Experts note when people are overworked and exhausted, their mental loads become too great for them to handle. This makes them less likely to recognize the warning indications of a phishing assault or to verify that they have the correct email address before submitting. Likewise, cybercriminals are aware of this, which is why they typically send phishing emails later in the day.
5. The impact on business customers
When employees send emails to the incorrect recipient, they not only run the risk of jeopardizing security, but 29% of firms have also lost a client or customer as a result. This is because they betrayed the trust they had established by notifying the affected client of the inadvertent data loss. Revenue and brand reputation are both significantly impacted by this.
6. Rethinking email security in the era of AI-powered phishing
Traditional email security solutions built around static rules and known threat signatures are increasingly ineffective against today’s advanced phishing attacks. These legacy systems struggle to detect novel, targeted threats that don’t match pre-existing patterns.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) highlighted this gap: Out of 1,800 malicious emails tested, 50 phishing messages containing infected attachments still made it through the email gateway and into employees’ inboxes. This underscores a critical weakness: Modern attackers use constantly evolving tactics, including AI-generated content and dynamic payloads, that are specifically designed to evade rule-based defenses. As cybercriminals adapt faster than traditional filters can respond, organizations need more intelligent, behavior-driven solutions to keep inboxes secure.
7. Training is not a panacea
Many organizations still rely on annual security awareness training as their primary line of defense against phishing attacks, but that approach is no longer enough. To drive real behavioral change, training must go beyond generic, once-a-year sessions. It needs to be frequent, real-time, and tailored to the specific risks employees face in their individual roles. Contextual, job-relevant guidance delivered at the moment it's needed, such as warning prompts during risky email interactions—can dramatically improve awareness and reduce click rates. In today’s threat landscape, effective training isn’t a checkbox—it’s a continuous, adaptive process.
8. Augmenting lean security teams with automation
It’s no secret that the cybersecurity skills gap continues to strain already overworked security teams. Many are understaffed, overwhelmed, and forced to waste valuable time manually investigating false positives triggered by suspected phishing emails. This operational burden not only slows response times but pulls focus away from high-priority threats. To stay ahead, security professionals are increasingly turning to automated email security solutions that can reduce manual workloads and allow teams to focus on strategic, mission-critical tasks.
Email remains the primary communication channel for most businesses and that makes it the most frequently targeted. Its ubiquity, accessibility, and trust-based nature make it an ideal vector for fraudsters, who are constantly evolving their techniques to bypass traditional defenses. To protect employees and sensitive data, organizations must invest in smarter, more proactive security measures.
Just as important is helping boards and other key stakeholders understand what’s truly at stake. Email security isn't just an IT concern; it’s a business risk. Raising awareness of the threats lurking in inboxes and the cost of inaction is a critical first step toward building a more resilient security posture.