Train Your Team for Email Security: Strategies Against Phishing and Threats

The security field is far from the concerns of most of your employees, but that fact could be where malicious threats thrive.

A lot of the time, breaches and attacks are successful simply due to a lack of knowledge – due to a mistake that could have been avoided with the proper training. That is the case regarding email security, phishing scams, and similar areas. Therefore, to understand the kinds of risks that risks pose, training your whole team can make that knowledge comprehensive and your business more secure.

Why Email Security Training Is Critical for Businesses

The difficulty is how many of your employees might have access to your business email addresses. They all operate from inside your professional boundaries and receive potentially dangerous emails. Any staff members within your network might then become targets of these kinds of threats, which can be distressing due to the sheer number of vulnerabilities that this might open up. This is why email Security training plays such an important role in reducing risk and improving employee email protection across the organization. 

You need to understand the situation in depth to fully gauge how much of a problem this might be for your business and what you can do about it. Once that has been done, you can begin to patch up the problems as they emerge, addressing each so that you can turn your staff’s widespread access to business email networks back into something positive. Without regular cybersecurity awareness training, even small oversights can turn into common email security mistakes that attackers are quick to exploit. For additional email tips to reduce risk at the account level, see 9 methods to secure your email account from hackers.

Tailoring Email Security Training to Different Employee Awareness Levels

One of the most significant variables you might immediately encounter in email security training is how easily different people can spot suspicious emails. Not everyone you hire is going to have the same level of online awareness or familiarity – even when that is something that’s part of the job. Typically, this might be something you see along a generational line, where younger people are more familiar with what to expect and potential signs of what to mistrust online, but this won’t always be the case. For some employees, phishing awareness training may be essential in helping them learn how to spot suspicious emails or avoid interacting with malicious email attachments​​, and reviewing signs to identify BEC can make those risks more concrete.

The fact is, when you have to teach your new hires, you’re inevitably going to make assumptions here or there – including about their capability to handle potential malicious emails. Every single employee you hire will be coming to this job with a different level of exposure here; however, this means that perhaps you can’t take any chances to bring people up to speed. This is why cybersecurity awareness training should be adapted to account for these differences, helping prevent common email security mistakes and improving overall business email security. Pairing awareness training with layered defenses is one of the most effective ways to build lasting email security.

The Scale of the Problem

Detection misses happen. Attackers change their playbooks fast, and signatures or rules rarely catch up in time. In April 2025 the Co-op suffered a large breach after attackers impersonated an employee using social engineering. The incident disrupted operations across roughly 2,300 stores and 800 funeral parlors. Reported losses were significant: about an £80 million hit to operating profit and roughly £206 million in revenue; 6.5 million member records were exposed. It is a blunt reminder that defenses need to assume failures—not just prevent them.

This incident proves that email security training is essential. Employees need to spot suspicious emails before they act. Malicious email attachments are still one of the most common ways attackers get in. Phishing awareness training helps, but only if it’s ongoing and realistic. Business email security depends on scale: one mistake in a large staff can expose the entire system.

Worst of all, total reassurance may be impossible due to the ever-present risks and uncertainties. Mistakes happen, meaning solutions like this are rarely foolproof. Human error never disappears. That makes “good enough” a realistic goal in security. Cybersecurity awareness training lowers the odds of a mistake, but no program can erase risk. Pairing that human layer with cloud email security closes gaps attackers exploit when someone slips. 

Understanding the Risks of Human Error in Email Security

Effective training begins with risk awareness. Staff should learn what to watch for, how attacks unfold, and when to ask for help. Email security training gives them the base to make real decisions instead of just following a script.

Phishing and Social Engineering Emails

Decoy spam emails are increasingly sophisticated. Key points to watch for:

• Generalized messages that aim to hook any reader
• Compromised accounts that appear familiar to the recipient
• Red flags like requests for sensitive information, though they may not always be present

Suspicious Links and Attachments

Links in emails are a common attack strategy. Employees should:

• Verify the sender’s identity before clicking
• Consider the context of the request within normal business operations
• Remember that even careful reading won’t catch everything, highlighting the need for phishing awareness training

Attachments can hide malicious content. Staff should:

• Inspect file names and cross-check with the sender
• Treat unexpected PDFs, .zip, or executable files cautiously
• Be aware that some email providers scan attachments automatically, but not all threats are caught

Quick answer: If you’ve ever wondered, “Can a PDF have a virus?”, the answer is yes! Always scan attachments and follow best practices for email security, like those outlined in Cloud Email Security.

Decoy Emails

As mentioned, spotting a spam or dangerous email is becoming more complex. These decoy emails are being sent out with increased efficiency, with multiple methods behind them to try and fool whoever is reading them. 

Sometimes, it is about creating a general message to apply to at least one person reading it, while other times, email accounts may become hacked to try and appear more familiar to the reader. While people might use questionable spelling, grammar, or obvious red flags (like asking for sensitive information) to determine whether to trust an email, such signs won’t always be present.

The Role of Email Security Tools in Employee Protection

Training alone isn’t enough. A multi-layered approach helps reduce risks:

• Collaborate with your security team or consult experts for additional insight
• Implement employee email protection measures such as multi-factor authentication and strong spam filter protection
• Understand network communication models (like OSI) to spot unusual activity

Once your team has identified some signs to identify BEC (Business Email Compromise). Utilize combined training with technical controls to reinforce business email security.

How to Design an Effective Email Security Training Program

Effective email security training can be delivered in multiple ways to help staff recognize threats and apply best practices. Consider these approaches:

​​eLearning Modules

• Allow employees to learn on their own schedule
• Enable managers to update content with new email phishing examples and training material
• Track completion and quiz results to identify who may need follow-up 

Quick Alerts (Heads Up)

• Send short, urgent notifications highlighting recent threats or suspicious emails
• Reinforce awareness of malicious email attachments or identifying suspicious links
• Useful for high-priority updates without requiring a full training session

Focused Meetings

• Conduct brief digital or in-person sessions for teams with access to business email security systems
• Provide examples of how to spot suspicious emails in real-time
• Encourage discussion and immediate questions to reinforce cybersecurity awareness training

Ongoing Reinforcement

• Rotate topics to prevent knowledge gaps 
• Emphasize common email security mistakes and Business Email Compromise (BEC) prevention
• Combine multiple formats (eLearning + alerts + meetings) for maximum retention

FAQs on Email Security Training:

How often should businesses conduct email security training?

Quarterly sessions with quick refreshers keep employees alert to new threats. Regular phishing awareness training reinforces safe habits.

What are the most common mistakes employees make with email security?

Clicking suspicious links, opening malicious attachments, and reusing passwords. Training helps reduce these errors.

How does email security training help prevent Business Email Compromise (BEC)?

It teaches staff to spot phishing, suspicious patterns, and social engineering. This protects business email security.

 How can I measure the effectiveness of my email security training program?

Track quiz results, phishing simulations, and reported suspicious emails. These metrics show training impact.

 Final Thoughts: Creating a Culture of Cybersecurity Awareness

Email security training is not a checkbox.
It teaches staff to spot phishing scams, to question suspicious links, and to avoid opening a malicious email attachment until it is verified. Those behaviors reduce exposure and strengthen business email security.

Training will not stop every attack. Pair steady, realistic training with tools and policies so mistakes do not become full breaches. Combine a regular program of simulations and measurement with targeted controls such as Small & Medium Business Email Protection and multi-tiered security policy controls. Run the exercises, measure the results, and tune both training and controls to what your mailstreams actually show.

Threats change. Keep your practice changing faster.

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