US workers think they're pretty good at spotting phishing emails - but the reality is quite different

Date:
Wed, 25 Mar 2026 15:05:00 +0000

Description:
Training is one thing - but many workers many fail to spot the difference
when it comes to phishing scams.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Pro Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news
and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Darktrace survey shows US workers overconfident in spotting phishing 80% felt
confident, but only 32% passed real-world test AI makes phishing harder to detect; experts say conventional training lacks personalization and
measurable impact Many US workers think they are rather good at identifying phishing emails in their inboxes, but reality begs to differ, new research
has claimed.

Darktrace recently surveyed 1,000 US office workers and around 430 IT and security decision-makers on security awareness training and actual
preparation for modern phishing attacks, finding four in five (80%) were confident in their ability to spot a phishing email in their day-to-day work. However, after using realistic messages in a real-world test, only a third (32%) were able to actually spot the attack. Article continues below You may like Most SMBs aren't set up to survive a major cyberattack - here's what needs to be done Adopting AI is a major priority for businesses - but employees are falling behind on education AI security scams are on the rise - heres what you need to know to stay safe Security awareness training is failing workers Phishing has drastically evolved over the past couple of years. Before the emergence of AI, one could spot a phishing email simply by proofreading it, since the attackers are rarely English native speakers, and the messages would come with spelling and grammar errors, as well as clunky language construction.

Nowadays, with AI doing most of the writing, properly identifying a phishing email is more difficult, but not impossible.

Checking the senders domain, analyzing links before clicking, and looking for telltale signs such as a sense of high urgency or threats are still a solid technique.

The researchers said last year more than a third (38%) used novel social engineering techniques, likely enabled by AI in their attacks, suggesting
that the landscape is evolving rapidly. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me
with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

The report also says security professionals are not strongly convinced conventional security awareness training is keeping pace with modern
phishing. The majority (62%) agree it is effective at preparing employees to identify phishing attempts, but only 11% strongly agree, and just 2% say they see no limitations in conventional training.

The biggest limitations are the lack of personalization (31%), focus on failure (27%), and being too difficult to measure meaningfully beyond completion or click rates (23%). The best antivirus for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best antivirus 1. Best overall: Bitdefender Total Security 2. Best for families: Norton 360 with LifeLock 3. Best for mobile: McAfee Mobile Security Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/us-workers-think-theyre-pretty-good-at- spotting-phishing-emails-but-the-reality-is-quite-different


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