Phishing didn’t slow down in early 2026—it evolved. Microsoft Threat Intelligence reports 8.3 billion phishing attempts in Q1 2026, with attackers shifting tactics to outpace filters and user awareness. The standout change is a dramatic escalation in QR code–based phishing (“quishing”): volumes more than doubled from 7.6 million attacks in January to 18.7 million in…
If you got an email last month asking you to acknowledge a “revised code of conduct,” would you click? Tens of thousands did—or almost did. And that was the point. In mid-April, Microsoft observed a credential theft campaign that moved fast, hit hard, and leaned on newer tricks like QR codes and CAPTCHA gates to…
If you only skim one cybersecurity brief this week, make it this one. Three threads from May 5’s news point to the same story: attackers still love email, defenders are teaming up to close gaps, and when ransomware hits critical industries, the blast radius goes way beyond IT. Let’s unpack what happened, why it matters,…
If you got an email from your CEO at 8:17 a.m., asking you to jump on a “quick vendor payment” before the board meeting, would you catch the one clue that it’s fake? What if the message is grammatically perfect, references a project you actually worked on, and even follows up with a convincing voicemail…
If you’ve been trusting your gut to catch phishing emails—looking for typos, awkward phrasing, odd salutations—here’s a wake-up call: that playbook is increasingly obsolete. Attackers are using generative AI to write flawless messages, mimic internal tone, and even carry on multi-email conversations with zero links or attachments. And the numbers are sobering. According to a…
If you’ve ever hovered over a suspicious link or second‑guessed an email from “your bank,” you’ve brushed up against a phishing kit. These kits are the pre‑packaged, plug‑and‑play toolsets that power many of today’s phishing attacks. They make it easy for even low‑skill attackers to launch convincing scams at scale. Here’s the twist: phishing isn’t…
In recent years, the digital landscape has seen a significant shift. AI now plays a pivotal role in generating over half of all spam and malicious emails. According to a study by Barracuda, in collaboration with researchers from Columbia University and the University of Chicago, 51% of these emails are now AI-generated. This trend highlights…
