You received a message from one of your most important clients. Maybe a new contract or proposal, and you are quite excited. But what if all this is just a part of a phishing scam, and the mail was crafted by an attacker 1000 miles away? A spoofed domain, urgent language, and a fake login page; that’s all needed!
When it comes to manipulating human trust, phishing scam is a serious threat. It’s much more than just random emails. It is quite sophisticated, targeted, and specially crafted mails to bypass filters to exploit your employees. Yes, it has to stop, and to stop it, the organizations must understand how phishing works, what are the targeted vulnerabilities and how to build a strong defense.
At Threatcop, we study these exact tactics to help organizations understand how phishing really works — and how to counter it.
Here’s how a phishing attack unfolds — from the attacker’s first move to the actual breach.
The very first step of a phishing scam is the reconnaissance, which the malicious actor conducts to gather enough information about the target potential victim from sources like LinkedIn, vendor pages, press releases, company websites, etc. This helps the attackers in creating a social map of the organisation — who works where, how to reach specific individuals, and what business context to exploit.
Malicious actors engage through the means of legitimate communications, mimicking internal or vendor-style messaging. Because that’s what the attacker aims to appear to the victims. And the method they most often use is spoofed domains to make things even more real. With the rise of AI tools, attackers now generate personalized messages using AI-written content. Sometimes, they create fake login pages too — designed to look indistinguishable from real portals.
The mail may contain fake password reset links and embedded QR codes which may lead to malicious sites. But it may also include attachments with hidden malware, giving attackers a silent, effortless way in.
Exploitation happens when the user engages. It can be by clicking a link, opening an attachment, or downloading a file. Now, the attacker can easily deploy the malware, harvest the credentials, or even impersonate a known and reputable vendor or executive.
Business Email Compromise (BEC) remains one of the most common attack vectors and techniques for requesting urgent wire transfers. And a good example of this is that attackers often create Microsoft 365 login clones for credential theft.
The user is now under attack. The attacker has already gained a foothold, and now moves laterally. From accessing shared devices to deploying ransomware, the attackers are free to do anything.
And the attackers can do all kinds of damage — from using stolen credentials to accessing PII, to demanding payment after encrypting systems with ransomware.
To underscore: Each stage in this lifecycle can be simulated through phishing drills and behavior-focused training, helping organizations measure who falls for what and why — before an actual attack does the damage.
Cybercriminals adapt different phishing tactics depending on who they want to target and what they wish to achieve. Here are the four most common and dangerous phishing approaches:
This is one of the most common phishing tactics, and here, the attackers mimic portals like Microsoft 365 or Gmail while sending emails. They usually send emails that contain links to fake login pages while everything else looks correct. The main goal of an email impersonation scam is to trick users into entering their passwords. Once they have access to the passwords, they can do anything depending on the information they obtained, like compromise the system or network or sell information on the dark web.
In this type of phishing attack, attachments such as PDFs or Excel files are used to deliver malicious payloads. Initially, these files may appear to be harmless, but in reality, they contain hidden malware like ransomware or spyware. Once you open these files or click on them, malicious code gets executed. The system gets compromised, and if that system has access to others, the attack can easily spread throughout the network.
These attacks are highly targeted, because emails seem to be sent from executive-level officials, partners, or vendors. This kind of tactic is often used to trick employees, especially in HR or finance. But the primary intent of the attackers is to transfer funds or sensitive personal data.
This is the most important element of phishing. No matter if it is a sense of urgency or fear, attackers make use of social engineering to manipulate the emotions of the victims. And this results in impulsive and irrational judgements.
Now that you have got an idea of these tactics, it will be a lot easier for you to prepare your teams to detect and respond to cyberthreats in a more efficient manner.
Phishing emails don’t always carry obvious malware, and that’s what allows them to bypass email filters. And it’s human error that remains the weakest link. Let’s have a look at the most overlooked red flags:
Is it a human error? Not really. It’s just that you are not trained to see the warning signs of a phishing scam.
Phishing is an attack on both technology and trust. That’s why stopping it requires more than just filters. It needs a human-centric defense model. Threatcop’s AAPE Framework provides exactly that. It’s a practical, structured way to assess, train, secure, and empower your workforce to recognize and stop phishing attacks before they cause damage.
The first step is to identify where your organization is vulnerable by simulating real-world attacks.
Awareness programs must be continuous, contextual, and also role-specific. This phase builds knowledge through modern, behavior-focused learning.
Technical safeguards reinforce the human layer by securing email communication and preventing spoofing.
Your workforce becomes a proactive line of defense when you give them the right tools to respond confidently.
Stage | Attacker Action | User Weakness Targeted | Threatcop Defense |
Reconnaissance | Collect employee data | Oversharing online | |
Crafting | Domain spoof, fake CTA | Visual trust cues | |
Exploitation | Fake login, file lure | Curiosity, urgency | TSAT, TLMS |
Execution | Credential use, lateral spread | Silence, fear, lack of process |
Phishing is a lot more than just clicking the wrong link — it is about the manipulation of trust. And when it comes to trust, it is built into every communication workflow used by employees on a regular basis.
Are you still using technical filters and spam detection to prevent phishing scams? That will no longer work, as attackers have gone too far in using social engineering enhanced by AI.
Defending against modern phishing requires more serious actions, such as:
Your employees are your first line of defense against phishing scams — they are not your weakest link. Train them, give them the necessary resources, and you already have a robust defense system in place to stop phishing attacks. Get in touch with security experts today!
Director of Growth
Naman Srivastav is the Director of Growth at Threatcop, where he leads customer-facing and product marketing teams. With a self-driven mindset and a passion for strategic execution, Naman brings a competitive edge to everything he does — from driving market expansion to positioning Threatcop as a leader in people-centric cybersecurity.
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