Cybersecurity Blog | RedLegg

Phishing Isn’t a Tool Problem — It’s a Decision Problem

Written by RedLegg Blog | 1/26/26 4:59 PM

Summary:

The Challenge: Business email compromise (BEC) attacks look legitimate, use trusted platforms, and rely on social engineering instead of malware. Email gateways and AI detection tools reduce volume but can't solve the hardest problem: deciding whether an ambiguous email is actually malicious. Internal security teams, already stretched thin, often hesitate when facing unclear threats, creating gaps attackers exploit.

RedLegg's Solution: Our Phishing Response Service combines automated enrichment with expert human analysis to own phishing decisions for you. We investigate suspicious emails end-to-end, make confident calls on ambiguous threats, and execute response actions quickly—reducing risk and relieving your team from uncertainty.

 

Full Article:

Business email compromise (BEC) has become one of the most damaging and persistent threats organizations face, and its getting worse.

Phishing emails are more frequent, more convincing, and more difficult to detect than ever. Research shows phishing volume increased 17.3% in just six months, and nearly 58% of attacks now come from compromised accounts, making them harder to distinguish from legitimate business communications. (KnowBe4 Phishing Threat Trends Report)

The result? Even well-defended organizations keep getting breached. They have the tools. What breaks down is the decision-making when attacks get ambiguous.

 

BEC Is Getting Smarter and More Expensive

Today’s phishing attacks rarely rely on crude tactics or obvious malicious indicators. Instead, attackers use social engineering, impersonation, and business context to blend in.

Modern campaigns often:

  • Originate from trusted or compromised accounts
  • Leverage legitimate platforms like Microsoft, DocuSign, or Google Drive
  • Contain no malware at all — just persuasion and urgency

More than 20% of phishing attacks now rely solely on social engineering, and over 80% show signs of AI involvement, enabling attackers to generate highly convincing, polymorphic messages at scale (KnowBe4 Phishing Threat Trends Report)

BEC doesn’t need malware to succeed. It only needs one believable email and one moment of hesitation.

 

Internal Teams Are Overwhelmed
(Even with the Right Tools)

Most organizations already have layers of email security in place. Secure email gateways, phishing automation tools, and AI-driven detection platforms all play an important role in reducing volume and surfacing suspicious activity.

But those tools don’t remove the hardest part of the problem.

When an email:

  • Looks legitimate
  • Comes from a trusted sender
  • Matches an ongoing business process
  • Doesn’t trigger a high-confidence alert

…someone still has to decide what to do.

That “someone” is usually IT or security, and teams are already stretched thin. Phishing investigations pile up alongside endpoint alerts, identity incidents, and operational demands. In many cases, suspicious emails sit untouched because no one is confident enough to act.

The challenge is ownership. Who's responsible for making the call?

 

Why Tools Alone Will Always Leave Gaps

Each category of phishing defense solves a different part of the problem:

  • Email gateways reduce known and high-confidence threats
  • Automation platforms help route and prioritize reported emails
  • AI-driven tools surface anomalous behavior and risk signals
  • Training platforms help users recognize and report suspicious emails

All are necessary. But none answer the most important questions:
Is this email actually malicious? What should we do right now?

Even advanced AI struggles with ambiguity. Polymorphic phishing campaigns now make up the majority of attacks, intentionally changing small details to evade pattern-based detection and confuse automated analysis (KnowBe4 Phishing Threat Trends Report)

When certainty is low and impact is high, automation stops short. By design.

 

The Missing Layer:
Expert Human Decision-Making

This is where phishing response services come in.

Phishing response is not about replacing tools. It’s about closing the gap between detection and action by introducing expert human judgment where automation reaches its limit.

A true phishing response service:

  • Investigates user-reported emails end-to-end
  • Validates intent using human analysis and context
  • Takes responsibility for difficult decisions
  • Executes controlled response actions with confidence
  • Provides closure — not just alerts

Instead of asking internal teams to guess, phishing response services own the decision.

 

Why This Matters More Than Ever

Phishing is increasingly used as the delivery mechanism for ransomware, credential theft, and insider-style attacks. Recent data shows a 22.6% increase in ransomware delivered via phishing emails, with attackers deliberately engineering payloads to bypass traditional defenses (KnowBe4 Phishing Threat Trends Report)

Stopping these attacks at delivery — before a click, before credentials are entered, before money is moved — is critical.

That requires more than tools. It requires confident, timely decisions.

 

How RedLegg Approaches Phishing Response

At RedLegg, we view phishing response as an operational responsibility. Our Phishing Response Service exists to handle the emails that:

  • Automation can’t confidently classify
  • Internal teams hesitate to act on
  • Carry outsized risk if mishandled

By combining automated enrichment with experienced analyst judgment, RedLegg takes ownership of phishing decisions so our customers don’t have to guess, debate, or delay.

The result is faster response, reduced risk, and less burden on internal teams.

 

Closing Thought

Phishing defenses will continue to evolve. Attackers will continue to adapt.

But as long as phishing relies on human trust and business context, there will always be moments where tools alone aren’t enough.

The organizations that succeed won’t be the ones with the most alerts — they’ll be the ones with clear ownership when decisions matter most.

 

Want to Learn More?

If phishing investigations are consuming time, creating hesitation, or leaving teams unsure how to act, it may be time to look beyond tools alone.

RedLegg’s Phishing Response Service is designed to fill that gap.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Business Email Compromise (BEC)?
Business email compromise (BEC) is a type of phishing attack that uses social engineering and impersonation to trick employees into taking harmful actions, such as transferring money, sharing credentials, or approving fraudulent requests.
 
Why are BEC attacks so difficult to detect?

Modern BEC attacks often come from compromised or trusted accounts, use legitimate platforms like Microsoft or DocuSign, and contain no malware. Because they look like real business communications, they frequently bypass traditional security controls.

Don’t email security tools already protect against phishing?

Email gateways, AI detection tools, and automation platforms are extremely effective at reducing known and high‑confidence threats. However, they struggle with ambiguous emails that lack clear malicious indicators but still pose significant risk.

What typically breaks down during a phishing incident?

The biggest challenge is decision‑making. When an email appears legitimate and does not trigger a high‑confidence alert, someone still must decide whether it’s malicious and what response actions to take.

Why can’t AI and automation handle ambiguous phishing emails?

Attackers increasingly use polymorphic, AI‑assisted phishing techniques that subtly change content to evade pattern‑based detection. Even advanced AI tools are designed to stop short when certainty is low and business impact is high.

How do internal security teams usually handle these situations?

Internal teams often face investigation backlogs and competing priorities. When confidence is low, suspicious emails may be delayed or left unresolved, creating a window of opportunity for attackers.

What is a phishing response service?

A phishing response service provides expert human analysis to investigate suspicious emails end‑to‑end, determine intent, and take appropriate response actions—closing the gap between detection and resolution.

How is phishing response different from phishing detection?

Detection tools identify potential threats, while phishing response focuses on ownership and action. Response services answer critical questions like “Is this actually malicious?” and “What should we do right now?”

Why is fast decision‑making so important in phishing response?

Phishing is often the initial access vector for ransomware, credential theft, and financial fraud. Stopping attacks before a click, credential entry, or transaction occurs dramatically reduces impact.

 

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