Phishing attacks are getting through email security filters at an alarming rate. The technology hasn’t failed, but the attacks themselves have fundamentally changed. A cyber-literate workforce—employees who understand how modern threats work and know how to respond—has become essential to protecting your business.
A typical attack starts with something completely ordinary. Your employee receives an email from a vendor they work with every week. The subject line references their current project. The message includes a link to review updated documents in OneDrive. They click it, log in when prompted, and get back to work.
Two days later, your company discovers that multiple accounts have been compromised and sensitive data has been accessed. The investigation reveals that the vendor’s email had been hacked, the OneDrive link led to a fake login page, and that single click by your employee gave attackers access to their Microsoft account and all the business systems connected through single sign-on.
This looks like a typical page when accessing files from a trusted business partner. However, clicking the link leads to a phishing page rather than a document. Spotting the red flag requires careful attention: why would a shared document link ask ‘Was this article helpful?’ While AI-powered phishing has become sophisticated at mimicking natural language and formatting, attackers sometimes cannot remove or customize built-in features of the legitimate file-sharing services they exploit. This inconsistency is your clue. Users must now maintain vigilance throughout the entire workflow when accessing links and files from known senders across the supply chain.
At first glance, this appears to be a legitimate Microsoft login page. However, the URL reveals otherwise. This phishing page evaded email security filters because the original email contained only a link to a legitimate document-sharing site. By routing users through a trusted intermediary first, attackers exploit the user’s lowered vigilance—making it easier to overlook red flags like the suspicious URL on this final phishing page.
Phishing Attacks Now Come from Trusted Sources Using Legitimate Platforms
That scenario illustrates why email security technology can no longer catch every threat. The phishing emails your employees receive today look nothing like the obvious scams of the past that could be easily recognized by their obvious typos, awkward phrasing, and implausible stories from Nigerian princes.
Three major shifts have made these attacks significantly more dangerous:
1. Attacks now come from trusted sources
Cyber-criminals are compromising the email accounts of your vendors, customers, and business partners. When an employee receives a message from someone they communicate with regularly, they have every reason to believe it’s legitimate because it is coming from that person’s actual account.
2. Legitimate platforms have become delivery mechanisms
Rather than attaching suspicious files, attackers are hiding malicious content in OneDrive and Dropbox. Your employee receives an email from a trusted contact with a link to OneDrive. The link is real. The OneDrive location is legitimate. But what’s stored there is malicious. This bypasses email security entirely because there’s nothing suspicious about the email or the link itself.
3. AI has eliminated the red flags
The typos, awkward phrasing, and grammatical errors that once signaled a phishing attempt are gone. AI helps cyber-criminals craft messages that are indistinguishable from legitimate business communications, using information gathered from social media, compromised accounts, and public sources to make their messages contextually accurate and personally relevant.
A Cyber-Literate Workforce Knows What to Question and How to Respond
Email security technology is designed to catch malware and obviously suspicious content. But these attacks don’t need to deliver malware anymore. Attackers can compromise accounts with just two clicks to a fake login page, and because they’re using legitimate platforms and compromised accounts, email filters often let these messages through.
This is where cyber literacy becomes essential. A cyber-literate workforce understands that trusted sources can be compromised and knows to verify unexpected requests through alternate channels. Instead of clicking the OneDrive link, a cyber-literate employee would contact the vendor directly using a known phone number to confirm they sent the file.
For organizations that have invested in building this literacy, the value becomes evident. Your employees are catching and reporting suspicious activity that untrained employees miss. The ROI shows up in avoided breaches and clicks that never happen.
For organizations without this capability, employees don’t know what to look for or how to respond to these sophisticated attacks. When a phishing email arrives, the only thing standing between your business and a breach is whether your employee happens to feel suspicious about a message that looks completely legitimate.
Building Cyber Literacy Requires Understanding Current Threats
Effective cybersecurity awareness programs in 2025 must address these evolved tactics specifically. Employees need to understand:
- That trusted sources can be compromised
- How to verify requests through independent channels
- Why legitimate platforms like OneDrive can contain malicious content
- The importance of questioning unexpected requests, even from familiar contacts
- What to do when something feels off, even if they can’t articulate why
Because these tactics continue to evolve, building cyber literacy cannot be a one-time event. Ongoing education ensures your team stays current with the latest threats and maintains the awareness that protects your organization.
Cyber Literacy an Essential Layer in Your Security Strategy
Organizations without cybersecurity awareness training face significant exposure as phishing tactics grow more sophisticated. Building this capability is essential. For those with training programs already in place, ensuring they address these specific evolved tactics is critical.
Building a cyber-literate workforce is fundamental to protecting your business, but it’s not the only defense you need. At Bellwether, we recommend cybersecurity awareness training for all our clients because technology alone cannot protect against attacks that exploit human trust. But we also know that a cyber-literate workforce is one critical component of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that protects your organization from multiple threat vectors.
If you want to evaluate whether your cybersecurity strategy addresses all the risks your business faces, we should talk.
Contact us for a consultation.
