--- title: "Phishing Attacks: The State of the Art | DuoCircle" description: "It’s why awareness training will never be good enough. And it’s why the best phishing protection technology may always fall a little short." image: "https://www.duocircle.com/images/og-default.png" canonical: "https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/phishing-attacks-the-state-of-the-art/" --- Quick Answer Modern phishing has shifted to polymorphic infrastructure: attackers rotate URLs, IPs, and domains across short-lived campaigns, often lasting only minutes, to evade filters. Trickbots, modular banking trojans tracked by the Center for Internet Security, run sandbox checks and disable antivirus before deploying. Zero-day variants now arrive with new IPs and new malware on every launch. Awareness training alone cannot keep pace, so the working approach is defense-in-depth: training plus endpoint protection plus antivirus and anti-spam plus dedicated cloud-based phishing protection. The cloud layer must scan HTML for exploits in real time, include link-click protection that re-evaluates URLs at click time, and feed new threats back to shared reputation systems within seconds of detection. Share [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-attacks-the-state-of-the-art%2F "Share on LinkedIn") [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Phishing%20Attacks%3A%20The%20State%20of%20the%20Art&url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-attacks-the-state-of-the-art%2F "Share on X/Twitter") [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-attacks-the-state-of-the-art%2F "Share on Facebook") [ ](https://reddit.com/submit?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-attacks-the-state-of-the-art%2F&title=Phishing%20Attacks%3A%20The%20State%20of%20the%20Art "Share on Reddit") [ ](mailto:?subject=Phishing%20Attacks%3A%20The%20State%20of%20the%20Art&body=Check out this article: undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-attacks-the-state-of-the-art%2F "Share via Email") ![phishing](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/06/spf-record-check-2342.jpg) _It’s why awareness training will never be good enough._ And it’s why the best **phishing protection technology** may always fall a little short. The truth is, some of the best and brightest minds around are using their smarts to come up with more clever and more undetectable phishing exploits. It’s a technological arms race, and maybe the best you can ever hope for is a tie. As noted on the [Dark Reading website](https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/phishing-attacks-evolve-as-detection-and-response-capabilities-improve-/d/d-id/1334109), “The growing sophistication of tools and techniques for protecting people against **phishing scams** is forcing attackers to adapt and evolve their methods.” The article goes on to say “phishing attacks are becoming increasingly _polymorphic_. Rather than using a single URL, IP address, or domain to send phishing emails, attackers last year began using varied infrastructure to launch attacks, making them harder to filter out and stop.” To compound matters, many attacks only last a few minutes. Phishing attacks are also getting really smart. According to the [Center for Internet Security](https://www.cisecurity.org/white-papers/security-primer-trickbot/), one of the newer phishing technologies is known as _trickbots_. “A trickbot is a modular banking trojan that targets user financial information and acts as a dropper for other malware.” These trickbots are sophisticated enough to run checks to ensure they’re not in a sandbox environment and then they attempt to disable antivirus programs. New phishing exploits are constantly being developed too. According to [Chris Young](https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/christopher-young-mcafee-zero-day-attacks-and-phishing/article26710862.ece), CEO of McAfee, “zero-day attacks, which by definition are threats that haven’t been encountered previously, have now gone from being the exception to the norm. Now, when an attack is launched, it is with a completely new set of IP addresses, with a new variant of the malware, etcetera, in their effort to avoid detection.” It’s why **awareness training** company KnowBe4 says [Phishing Emails Will Always Get Through](https://blog.knowbe4.com/phishing-emails-will-always-get-through). According to the post, “_Technical defenses are almost always one step behind new attack methods, so the malicious email as an attack vector isn’t going away anytime soon_.” Unfortunately, the payoff from these attacks justifies the intellectual capital investment of the hackers. Don’t expect the attacks to stop any time soon. So, how do you try and defend yourself and your company from this never-ending evolution of threats? You do what the big boys do. You use a technique known as _defense-in-depth_. Defense-in-depth uses a layered approach to **phish protection**. In other words, the more hurdles you put up the better. Should you have **employee awareness training**? Yes. Should you have endpoint protection? Yes. Should you have antivirus and **anti-spam protection**? Yes. Should have dedicated, cloud-based phish protection technology? Yes. One of the most important pillars of defense-in-depth is **cloud-based phish protection technology**. It takes phishing protection out of the hands of distracted employees and uses the latest technology to scan the underlying HTML for exploits. But, for it to be effective, it must operate in real time. [![phishing protection](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/06/sender-policy-framework-4535.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/06/sender-policy-framework-4535.jpg) Cloud-based phish protection technology must not only include [real-time link click protection](/email-security/link-click-protection-prevents-spear-phishing-attacks/), but it must continually feed the data it uncovers back to the list and data providers in real time. This positive feedback loop gives cloud service providers the ability to detect new threats in as little as a few seconds after the outbreak. This is why real-time **phish protection service** providers are more effective at protecting against zero-day exploits. The only way to defend yourself from state-of-the-art phishing threats is with state-of-the-art phishing protection technology. When you’re ready to make that happen, head on over to our [phishing protection service](/email/phishing-protection) and try it risk free for 30 days. ![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg) Brad Slavin General Manager General Manager at DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across the email security portfolio. ## Secure your email infrastructure Protect, authenticate, and deliver. Contact our team to find the right solution. [Contact Sales](/contact/) [Explore Products](/products/) ## Related Articles [ Phishing 11m AI-Generated Phishing Has Eliminated the Typo: Why Traditional Email Filters Are No Longer Enough Apr 28, 2026 ](/blog/ai-generated-phishing-eliminates-typos-making-traditional-email-filters-ineffective/)[ Phishing 5m 10 Applications of ChatGPT that Hackers Are Already Exploiting May 3, 2023 ](/blog/phishing-protection/10-applications-of-chatgpt-that-hackers-are-already-exploiting/)[ Phishing 4m 65% of Global Businesses Ill-Equipped to Defend Against Email-Based Cyber-Attacks Mar 29, 2016 ](/blog/phishing-protection/65-global-businesses-ill-equipped-defend-email-based-cyber-attacks/)[ Phishing 9m 7 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Email-based Ransomware Attacks Feb 11, 2018 ](/blog/phishing-protection/7-ways-protect-organization-email-based-ransomware-attacks/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. 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