Why Email Is Still the #1 Cyber Attack Vector in 2025

The Email Problem Has Not Gone Away

Despite years of security awareness training and spam filters, email remains the primary entry point for cyberattacks. In 2024, over 90% of successful breaches began with a phishing or malicious email.

The reason is simple: email is how business gets done. Attackers go where the targets are.

What Modern Phishing Looks Like

Phishing has evolved dramatically. Modern attacks include:

Business Email Compromise (BEC): Attackers impersonate executives, suppliers, or partners to authorise fraudulent transfers or share sensitive data. Often involves no malicious links or attachments — just convincing text.

Spear phishing: Highly targeted emails using personal information from LinkedIn, company websites, or previous breaches to appear legitimate.

QR code phishing: Malicious QR codes bypass link scanners and direct users to credential-harvesting sites via their phone.

AI-generated phishing: Attackers now use AI to write flawless, personalised phishing emails at scale — eliminating the spelling mistakes that used to give them away.

What Basic Email Security Misses

Standard spam filters and Microsoft 365's built-in protection catch commodity threats. They miss:

• Zero-day links and attachments
• BEC attacks (no malware to detect)
• Evasive attachments using legitimate cloud storage
• QR code attacks

Advanced Email Protection

CyberOM uses Perception Point for email security — an advanced threat prevention platform that analyses every email, attachment, and link in real time using multiple detection engines.

Perception Point was recognised as the winner of SC Awards 2024 for Best Threat Detection, Intelligence and Response.

Detection happens in milliseconds. Malicious emails are quarantined before they reach the inbox.

Add email protection →