Spear Phishing vs. Phishing: What’s the Difference?

Why Email-Based Attacks Still Work

Despite years of investment in email security and user training, email-based attacks remain the most successful initial compromise method. Bad actors rely on phishing and spear phishing email-based attacks because they are incredibly effective. Attackers have adapted by shifting from broad phishing campaigns to highly targeted spear phishing tactics, many of which continue to evade traditional controls.

As artificial intelligence (AI) tools rapidly proliferate in 2025, hackers are taking advantage and working to use AI to enhance their phishing campaigns, according to research from Google.

This blog explains why email threats persist, how spear phishing differs from standard phishing, and how organizations can protect themselves.

What Is Phishing?

Phishing is a widespread tactic in which attackers send fraudulent emails to large groups of people, hoping to trick recipients into clicking malicious links, opening infected attachments, or revealing their credentials.

These messages often impersonate well-known brands or agencies, using urgency to prompt targets into taking action unthinkingly. Examples of common subject lines include:

• “Your account has been suspended. Click here to verify.”
• “Unusual login detected. Confirm your identity.”
• “Your invoice is overdue. Open the attachment.”

Tactics typically involve:

• Spoofed email sender names and domains
• Fake login portals collecting user credentials
• Malware disguised as documents
• Thematic lures tied to real news, brands, or company events

Phishing continues to be a favorite tactic of bad actors because it relies on high volume and low effort. Attackers don’t necessarily know who will click, but they know someone eventually will.

What Is Spear Phishing?

Spear phishing is a highly targeted version of phishing. Instead of sending generic emails to thousands of recipients, attackers select specific individuals or departments and create customized, believable messages based on research or open source intelligence, or OSINT.

Attackers often:

• Reference a real project or known contact
• Mimic email signatures and internal formatting
• Use spoofed or lookalike domains, replacing letters where there should be numbers, or vice versa

Because these messages can resemble internal or familiar communication, security tools can miss them. Additionally, recipients may not question their authenticity absent robust training programs.

Phishing vs. Spear Phishing: Key Differences

One of the primary differences between phishing and spear phishing operations is that phishing leans on a “spray-and-pray” approach, preferring volume and a low level of effort over tailored targeting.

Success rates of spear phishing may be growing in 2025 as criminals lean on AI-driven tools. AI-faciliated spear phishing emails perform approximately 350% better than arbitrary phishing emails, according to research published in 2024.

Examples of Phishing and Spear Phishing

Phishing Scenario:
An attacker sends a generic message pretending to be Microsoft 365. It warns that the user’s account will be disabled unless they log in immediately. The link leads to a spoofed login page that captures credentials.

Spear Phishing Scenario:
An attacker impersonates a CFO and emails a procurement manager, referencing a real vendor and asking for urgent wire transfer approval. The message uses a real name, familiar formatting, and a forged internal signature.

The spear phishing example requires more effort but produces higher-impact results—especially if access is gained to financial or administrative systems, or even email inboxes.

In April and May of 2025, threat actors took it one step further—they impersonated U.S. officials and sent voice phishing and SMS phishing (known as vishing and smishing) to current and former U.S. officials, according to the FBI. They sent malicious links and gained access to personal accounts, tricking targets into thinking they were transitioning to a separate messaging platform. From there, they could trick other U.S. officials, steal information, or gain access to other accounts.

Why Spear Phishing Is So Effective

Unlike traditional phishing, spear phishing rarely contains overt signs of danger. Instead, it relies on subtle manipulation and insider knowledge. These emails often bypass detection because:

• They avoid suspicious links or attachments
• Their language and format mirror legitimate communications

These messages are designed to exploit human behavior, not technical weaknesses.

Spear phishing plays a central role in attacks tied to:

• Business Email Compromise (BEC)
• Credential theft and internal system access
• Lateral movement across systems
• Ransomware deployment disguised as invoices

Many threat actors, such as Lazarus Group (a North Korean hacking team), APT29 (a Russian hacking group), Charming Kitten (Iranian hackers), and more have used spear phishing to infiltrate high-value targets.

Common Techniques

• • Lookalike Domains: Attackers register domains similar to real ones to fool recipients.
  • Vendor Impersonation: Emails appear to come from known suppliers or stakeholders and reference real account data.
  • Conversation Hijacking: Attackers monitor threads and reply from compromised accounts with infected attachments.
  • Malicious Calendar Invites: Meeting requests contain weaponized links, exploiting calendar trust.
  • Social Engineering: Imitating trusted business partners, supervisors, or government authorities

Detection Challenges

Legacy filters rely on known bad indicators like flagged IPs or malicious payloads. Spear phishing often avoids these traps. These attacks can come from clean infrastructure (such as, newly registered but unblacklisted domains) rely on message tone and not necessarily malware, and bypass content filters by mimicking internal phrasing.

As a result, traditional security tools may not detect them. Modern detection requires behavioral analytics, contextual threat intelligence, and machine learning models capable of spotting anomalies in sender behavior and message tone.

How to Prevent Phishing and Spear Phishing

1. Enforce Email Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
   These protocols help detect spoofing and verify that messages come from approved sources.
2. Monitor Domains and Vendors in Real Time
   SecurityScorecard’s Supply Chain Detection and Response (SCDR) solution continuously monitors third- and fourth-party risk, bringing Third Party Risk Management (TPRM) closer to the Security Operations Center (SOC).
3. Use Zero Trust Email Security Models
   Treat every message as a potential threat. Sandboxing, link rewriting, and attachment inspection are essential.
4. Enforce Access Controls and Least Privilege
   Limit user access to only what’s necessary and segment access by department and function. Spear phishing attacks can originate from compromised vendors. Even if your internal cybersecurity posture is mature, attackers will abuse trusted relationships to slip through.
5. Conduct Ongoing Security Training
   Focus training on recognizing impersonation attempts and suspicious requests, especially those related to money or credentials.

Final Thoughts

Although it’s an old tactic, phishing hasn’t gone away. Attackers in 2025 are pairing technical know-how with AI and social engineering to create messages that appear legitimate and urgent. Spear phishing succeeds not because defenses are weak, but because people trust what looks familiar. And research is already showing that AI-facilitated spear phishing can be far more successful than other phishing.

To counter this, organizations must look beyond legacy email filters and invest in layered, behavior-driven defenses and training.

Protect Your Supply Chain with Real-Time Threat Detection

SecurityScorecard’s SCDR solution offers continuous monitoring of your third-party ecosystem, enabling swift identification and mitigation of cyber threats. Enhance your organization’s resilience by proactively managing supply chain risks.

🔗 Understand SCDR