How to Combat Phishing and Human Error: The Leading Threats in Hybrid Workplaces

Hybrid work wasn’t designed to make us unsafe, but it’s doing a pretty good job of that.

The average hybrid employee switches between nine apps a day, jumps between work and home Wi-Fi, and spends hours in back-to-back video calls while checking messages across Slack, WhatsApp, Outlook, and browser tabs.

It’s the perfect storm for mistakes. When those mistakes involve suspicious links or fake login pages, they quickly turn into breaches.

That’s why 74 percent of data breaches today involve a human element, mostly through phishing, credential theft, and other human error cybersecurity incidents. The rise of remote work has just amplified everything.

• Shadow IT in Hybrid Work: A Cultural Problem, Not a Tech One

The Growing Phishing Risk for Remote Teams

In terms of security risks, phishing is old-school. It’s been around since the 90s. So why are we still falling for it? Because phishing today doesn’t look like it used to.

Modern attacks are personalized, AI-generated, and incredibly convincing. You’re navigating invoices from vendors your team actually works with. Deepfake voicemails mimicking your CFO. Or Zoom meeting invites spoofed with malicious links.

Worse still, it’s getting easier to launch attacks. Consumer AI tools like ChatGPT can craft near-perfect phishing emails in seconds. Shadow IT platforms, where employees paste confidential data into unsanctioned tools, introduce huge vulnerabilities. Plus, off-channel messaging (SMS, WhatsApp, personal Gmail accounts) means IT can’t monitor or block attacks in time.

Even defenses like MFA are being outpaced. So-called MFA fatigue attacks (like the Uber breach) exploit users’ habit of approving login requests without thinking, especially on mobile.

So if you’re wondering how to combat phishing in today’s world, it’s not enough to block odd emails. You need to change behavior by embedding security awareness training into the hybrid work culture itself.

How to Combat Phishing: Best Practices for Hybrid Teams

Getting people to stop clicking bad links isn’t about scaring them. It’s about training them to behave like members of the security team, because they are.

That means ditching checkbox compliance and building an ongoing culture of cybersecurity training for employees, especially in hybrid work environments where people are juggling devices, channels, and logins all day.

Ongoing, Contextual Training

You’ve seen the compliance courses. Ten slides. One quiz. Zero impact. That might’ve been enough when everyone was on the same network, in the same office. But today? With people working from coffee shops, bedrooms, and airports, you need more than a PowerPoint to build security muscle.

Modern cybersecurity training for employees isn’t an annual checkbox. It’s continuous. and it happens where people work, not in a separate LMS that they forget exists.

Real-time, contextual learning is taking over, with phishing simulations tailored to hybrid schedules or micro-lessons that pop up when someone makes a risky choice on Outlook.

Behavior-Based Nudges

In the hybrid workplace, people aren’t making risky decisions because they’re careless. They’re just moving fast, juggling tasks, and getting pinged on six apps at once. Learning how to combat phishing and human error means moving from just “more training” to regular reminders.

Behavioral nudges work because they meet users in the moment. An AI-powered message that says, “This document contains sensitive info, double-check before sharing.” Or “This link comes from outside the org, do you trust it?”

You can build nudges into email, chat, file sharing, and even apps like Zoom and Teams. Microsoft’s Copilot is starting to do this with just-in-time security cues, and you’ll see more UC integrations roll out these features, too.

Just-in-Time Access + Role-Based Restrictions

When it comes to human error in cybersecurity, the most dangerous people aren’t always the ones with bad intentions. They’re the ones with too much access and not enough context.

That’s why companies are moving away from “default full access” and toward just-in-time access models. If a temporary contractor joins you for a 2-week sprint, don’t give them everything. Just give them what they need, for the exact time they need it, then revoke access automatically.

The same goes for new hires, cross-functional team members, and even executives who rarely touch technical systems. The fewer windows open, the fewer ways in. With tools for Zero Trust architectures and Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), you can automate most of this, provisioning, monitoring, and revoking in seconds.

Align with HR and Culture Teams

You can roll out the best security awareness training for hybrid work, but if employees feel afraid to report a phishing click or embarrassed by a mistake, the risk doesn’t go away. That’s where HR comes in.

Smart teams treat phishing resilience like a cultural initiative. They gamify it. They celebrate “catches of the month.” They run friendly competitions between teams. They offer incentives for top reporters or for flagging the trickiest red flags in simulations.

Clicking a bad link isn’t a fireable offense. HR and IT can normalize the idea that everyone plays a role in cybersecurity. It’s not about paranoia but awareness.

Tech That Helps Without Hindering

Tech solutions are excellent for capturing risks quickly. But the second they start slowing people down, they’re going to end up finding a way around them.

The best solutions for tackling phishing and human error in hybrid work should be embedded into the flow of what teams are doing, without extra tabs or confusion.

Platforms like KnowBe4, CybeReady, MetaCompliance, and Mimecast Awareness Training are leading here. They offer bite-sized lessons, real-time phishing simulations, and context-aware alerts, all tailored to how real people behave on real hybrid teams.

Meanwhile, vendors like Microsoft and Zoom are weaving phishing defense directly into collaboration tools. Plus, with platforms like Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, users can report threats with a single click.

• The Real Cost of Poor Cybersecurity in Hybrid Work and the ROI of Upgrades

ROI and Impact: Why Training Is Worth It

Cybersecurity training for employees often gets treated like hygiene. Something you have to do, not something that drives outcomes. But the numbers say otherwise.

According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, organizations with strong hybrid workforce behavior training programs saw breach costs nearly 50 percent lower than those without.

Learning how to combat phishing and human error in hybrid work means avoiding:

• Days of downtime
• Fines for data protection violations
• Damaged customer trust
• Loss of intellectual property

Perhaps more importantly, you show regulators, team members, and customers that you’re taking a proactive approach to addressing threats, not just putting out fires.

Emerging Trends in Phishing Prevention

Phishing is evolving. The same AI tools we use to boost productivity? Hackers are using them to fine-tune scams. We’re now seeing:

• Deepfake voicemails and videos impersonating executives
• ChatGPT-style phishing emails that read like a human wrote them
• Zoom and Teams invite impersonations with spoofed domains and embedded malware links

But defenders are getting smarter, too. Modern training platforms use federated learning and AI behavior modeling to personalize phishing simulations and flag anomalies in real time. Companies are even experimenting with digital twins and XR in security training.

There’s also a push to bring phishing defense closer to the user interface. Microsoft’s recent Teams update now includes built-in phishing alerts for suspicious links in chats. Zoom is adding more real-time link scanning to protect remote meetings.

As phishing moves beyond inboxes, your defenses need to follow.

How to Combat Phishing: Now and in the Future

The phishing risk remote teams face today is growing. But the solutions we have for tackling human error are evolving, too.

The hybrid workforce demands a smarter approach, one that combines behavioral training, just-in-time tooling, and cultural awareness.

If you’re serious about learning how to combat phishing, start with your people. Train them like they’re part of the solution, and don’t stop there. Integrate phishing prevention into your workflows, your meetings, and your daily tools.