What Your Employees Don’t Know About Phishing Could Cost You Everything

If I told you that over 90% of successful cyberattacks start with a phishing email, you might think I was exaggerating. I am not. That number comes from CISA, and it has been consistent for years.

The reason is simple: it is easier to trick a person than to hack a firewall.

Phishing Has Evolved

The phishing emails of 2015 — the ones with broken English and obvious Nigerian prince scams — still exist. But they are not the ones that get through. The ones that succeed today look like this:

• An email from your “CEO” asking you to buy gift cards for a client appreciation event
• A message from “IT support” saying your password is expiring and you need to click a link to reset it
• A vendor invoice that looks exactly like the invoices you receive every month, except the payment link goes somewhere else
• A calendar invitation from a colleague that contains a malicious link

These work because they exploit trust and urgency. The attacker has done their homework — they know your CEO’s name, your IT provider’s email format, and your vendor relationships. Often, they got this information from a previous breach or from public sources like LinkedIn.

Why Training Matters More Than Filters

Email filters catch a lot of phishing. But they cannot catch all of it, especially when attackers use compromised legitimate email accounts to send their messages. When a phishing email comes from a real email address at a real company you do business with, no filter in the world will flag it.

That is why your last line of defense is your people. And your people need training — not a one-time presentation, but ongoing practice.

What Effective Training Looks Like

Regular simulated phishing tests. Send your team fake phishing emails and track who clicks. This is not about catching people doing something wrong — it is about building muscle memory. The more your team practices recognizing phishing, the better they get at it.

Short, frequent lessons. A 45-minute annual training session is not enough. Monthly 5-minute refreshers on specific topics — invoice fraud, calendar invitations, QR code phishing — are far more effective.

A safe reporting culture. If someone clicks a suspicious link, they need to report it immediately — not hide it out of embarrassment. The difference between a contained incident and a full breach is often measured in minutes. Make sure your team knows: reporting is always the right call, and nobody gets in trouble for being honest.

Real examples. Show your team actual phishing emails (redacted as needed). When people see what a real attack looks like in context, it sticks far better than abstract warnings.

At Black Lab Solutions, security awareness training is part of every managed service engagement. We believe that a well-trained team is worth more than any single security product. If you want to see where your own defenses stand today, our Cybersecurity Scorecard is a good place to start.