Data is the commodity that fuels the very existence of any modern business. Despite its importance, most organizations don’t address the biggest risk to its security and confidentiality: human error.
In 2024, 95% of all data breaches were attributed to human error, with one of the most common scenarios being employees falling for phishing messages. Implementing zero-trust policies with tech-based solutions certainly goes a long way, but for proper database safety, minimizing the risk of social engineering is the only way to go.
This article will explain the critical role of phishing training for employees in securing business data, and why it should be the first control organizations think about when addressing the human element that attackers most often exploit.
Why Phishing Training Is the First Control
Businesses dedicate a large percentage of their security budgets to technical controls like firewall, EDR, and IDS/IPS. Unfortunately, these fancy tools can’t stop attacks that exploit human trust rather than technical vulnerabilities.
Considering the prevalence of social engineering attacks, organizations must reconsider their priorities and recognize that phishing training should sit at the top of their defense strategy. Many of the most popular compliance frameworks have already acknowledged this by requiring ongoing security awareness training for all employees.
For example, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework highlights “Awareness and Training (AT)” as a core requirement, mandating that all team members receive regular training to recognize and respond to common threats like phishing.
But implementing phishing training isn’t just about compliance. It has a tangible impact on improving phishing report rates and lowering click-through rates, which directly reduces the number and severity of data breaches.
What Good Phishing Training Looks Like
Not all security awareness programs are created equal. Too often, training is delivered once a year in a generic, box-ticking fashion that fails to prepare employees for real-world threats. Effective phishing training is continuous, relevant, and actionable.
First, it should be role-based. Different teams face different risks, and training must reflect that. Training should also map to the actual tools employees use every day, whether that’s Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, DocuSign, or Okta.
While email is the most popular vector, some sessions can also touch on more “modern” tactics, such as recognizing QR code phishing, AI-generated deepfake videos, SMS lures, or fake collaboration invites. When an employee clicks or reports a phishing simulation, they should immediately receive guidance explaining what happened and how to handle it next time.
Finally, good training fosters a positive culture. The goal is not to shame employees who fall for a test, but to educate them and reward those who report suspicious activity.
Mapping Roles to Data Risks
While generic, en-masse phishing campaigns still happen, the main threat comes from highly targeted campaigns designed to exploit the specific responsibilities of various roles. Here are some unique risks different teams face:
- Executives and senior leaders are frequent targets of business email compromise (BEC) attacks, where attackers impersonate them to authorize fraudulent payments or pressure staff into other urgent actions. Such attempts can also occur over the phone (text or voice).
- Technical staff are also at risk. A software engineer may be tricked into downloading a malicious repo, while an attacker can target the help desk by impersonating a colleague to reset credentials or escalate access. Once they’re in your cloud environment, they can move laterally and download your sensitive databases.
- Finance teams are common targets of wire and invoice fraud, where they may receive spoofed payment instructions or altered invoices designed to funnel funds to attacker-controlled accounts.
Modern Threat Themes to Cover in Training
Phishing tactics are always evolving, which is why we must emphasize regular, dynamic training. In 2025, there are a few attack methods that are especially important to prepare for.
Malicious 0Auth consent phishing is one example. Employees should be careful with allowing third-party apps to access their accounts, as they could be malicious with legitimate-sounding names.
Man in the middle attacks, particularly session hijacking, are also common and very dangerous. In this attack, criminals steal session cookies or tokens as they travel between the user and the application, allowing them to hijack the session and gain full account access without needing a password or MFA.
Employees can mitigate this by logging out of unnecessary sessions and avoiding untrusted networks.
Another training scenario that’s trending right now is around AI, particularly voice and video cloning. Deepfake technology can now convincingly impersonate executives and colleagues, so employees must learn to verify any unusual requests.
Conclusion
The security of your business data starts and ends with the people that use it. Employees interact with sensitive information every day, and their decisions determine whether that data remains secure or falls into the wrong hands.
All employees interact with data in some form, so they all need the skills and awareness to recognize and report malicious requests.
By exposing them to regular and relevant phishing training, organizations can ensure that their first line of defense is well-prepared to stop attacks before they escalate into larger incidents.