3 Strategies to Effectively Combat Phishing Attacks

Accelerated by rapid technological advancements, phishing has become one of the most adaptive cyber threats – leveraging sophisticated deception, domain spoofing, and behavioural engineering to penetrate enterprise security perimeters.

Aug. 8, 2025

In today’s fast-evolving digital landscape, phishing remains one of the most pervasive cyber threats to organisations across the globe. It is one of the biggest contributing factors behind data breaches, costing organisations an average of USD 4.88 million per incident. The essence of phishing involves cybercriminals posing as “trusted” entities to manipulate users into harmful activities such as clicking malicious links, downloading malware, or revealing sensitive information.

Phishing activities via email, SMS, and other communication platforms are often disguised as legitimate messages from trusted sources such as financial institutions, executives, or critical functions within your organisation. These messages leverage social engineering, personal data, and user behavioural patterns to appear credible. Attackers may impersonate senior leaders or important business partners to deceive recipients into taking unwanted harmful actions. As their tactics grow increasingly sophisticated, CTOs and CISOs must proactively bolster their organisation’s cybersecurity defences to stay ahead of the curve.

Strengthening Your Defence Against Phishing Attacks

Since their advent in the mid-1990s, phishing attacks have evolved significantly over the years, propelled by AI and other technological advancements reshaping the cyber landscape. Today, the most common modes of phishing attacks include:

• Email Phishing: Mass emails that mimic trusted sources to trick users into clicking malicious links or attachments.
• Spear–Phishing: Personalised emails targeting specific individuals using gathered personal or professional details.
• Whaling: Attacks aimed at executives and senior leaders, using authority and urgency to request sensitive data or funds.
• Smishing: Fraudulent SMS messages with harmful links or fake support numbers.
• Vishing: Voice calls impersonating trusted entities to extract confidential information.
• Social Media Phishing: Malicious links sent via fake or hacked social accounts to steal credentials.
• Application Phishing: Fake login prompts within legitimate applications used to capture user credentials.

To strengthen your organisation’s resilience against phishing attacks, consider adopting the following tried and tested proven strategies.

1. Deploy Advanced Email Security and Threat Detection Mechanisms

Email remains one of the most commonly exploited entry point for phishing attacks, making it a critical focus for enterprise security. As threats grow more sophisticated, organisations must prioritise proactive defences. AI-powered email security solutions can analyse sender behaviour, detect anomalies, and block malicious content before it reaches end users. These tools are particularly effective against phishing and spear-phishing attempts, offering real-time protection that adapts to evolving tactics.

Business email compromise (BEC) is one of the most financially damaging forms of phishing, affecting 64% of organisations and resulting in losses of USD 150,000 per incident (on average). To mitigate these risks, organisations should implement robust filtering mechanisms that flag suspicious subject lines, embedded links, and attachments. Strengthening IT infrastructure to block access to unauthorised or malicious domains adds another essential layer of defence, significantly reducing the likelihood of successful attacks.

2. Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Across Your Organisation

One of the most critical safeguards against credential theft and unauthorised access resulting from phishing attacks is MFA. By requiring users to verify their identity through two or more methods, MFA adds a vital layer of security beyond just a password. It should be enforced across all user accounts, particularly those with privileged access, and integrated with identity and access management systems to enable centralised oversight, streamlined user provisioning, and auditability.

Even if a phishing attempt successfully captures a user’s password, MFA significantly reduces the risk of compromise by requiring an additional verification step, such as a biometric scan or a code from an authenticator application. This extra layer of protection can be the difference between a failed attack and a costly breach. As phishing tactics continue to evolve, implementing MFA is not just a best practice; it is an essential component of a modern cybersecurity strategy.

3. Conduct Robust Phishing Simulations and Regular Employee Training

Simulated phishing campaigns are an effective way to identify at-risk users and build secure behaviours across the organisation. When combined with targeted training, these exercises help cultivate a security-aware culture that spans all departments. Given the constantly evolving nature of phishing tactics, even minor lapses in judgement can lead to serious breaches. Embedding phishing awareness into employee onboarding and offering regular refresher sessions ensures that your entire workforce remains vigilant and informed all the time.

In addition, well-designed training programmes can significantly boost organisational resilience and reduce vulnerabilities to phishing attacks, particularly as the human element remains a significant contributing factor. Employees trained to recognise and report social engineering attacks have demonstrated a sixfold improvement in detection within six months, contributing to an 86% reduction in phishing incidents. Your training programmes and IT security playbooks should effectively equip your employees to identify suspicious emails, avoid unsafe links or attachments, and report potential threats through the appropriate internal channels. All in all, empowering employees with the right know-how, tools, and best practices to recognise and combat phishing threats is essential to strengthening your organisation’s overall cybersecurity posture.