Phishing Red Flags Your Team Should Know
Most breaches begin with a single convincing message. Here is what to look for before anyone clicks.
Phishing works because it feels ordinary. The message looks like it came from a colleague, a bank or a delivery company, and it asks for something small: a click, a login, a quick payment.
Urgency and pressure
Be suspicious of any message that demands immediate action, threatens to close an account or insists that you keep the request secret. Genuine organisations give you time and an alternative way to verify.
Small details that do not add up
- A sender address that is close to, but not exactly, the real domain.
- Links whose destination differs from the text you see.
- Unexpected attachments, especially invoices or "shared documents".
- Greetings or wording that do not match how the sender normally writes.
Make reporting easy
The most useful habit is not spotting every trick; it is reporting quickly. Give staff one obvious place to forward suspicious messages and thank them when they do, even when it turns out to be harmless.
