Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting Teams, Slack, SMS, and social platforms as organizations focus heavily on email security.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

A new cybersecurity survey reveals that while organizations remain highly confident in their ability to defend against email-based attacks, attackers are rapidly shifting toward collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, SMS, WhatsApp, and social media.

Organizations reported 83% confidence in their email defenses, but confidence drops significantly for Teams (61%), social media (51%), SMS/WhatsApp (50%), and Slack (40%). Security experts warn that cybercriminals are exploiting these trusted workplace communication channels to deliver phishing attacks, malware, and social engineering campaigns.

The rise of AI-generated content is making these attacks more convincing and harder to detect.

WHY IT MATTERS

For years, cybersecurity awareness programs focused primarily on email phishing. Attackers have noticed.

As email defenses improve, criminals are following employees into the communication tools they use every day. A fake Slack message, Teams notification, or SMS alert can often appear more trustworthy than a suspicious email.

The result is a growing attack surface where organizations may be less prepared and employees may be less vigilant.

WHO BENEFITS

Cybercriminals — Gain access to new attack vectors where security awareness and monitoring are often weaker.

Cybersecurity Vendors — Increased demand for tools that monitor and secure collaboration platforms beyond email.

Organizations With Comprehensive Training Programs — Companies that educate employees across multiple communication channels gain a defensive advantage.

WHO LOSES

Organizations Focused Only On Email Security — Risk being exposed through overlooked communication channels.

Employees Without Ongoing Security Training — More vulnerable to sophisticated social engineering attacks delivered through trusted workplace tools.

IT And Security Teams — Face a growing challenge as threats spread across multiple platforms instead of a single communication channel.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Expect cybersecurity strategies to evolve beyond email protection toward securing the entire communication ecosystem. Organizations will likely invest more heavily in monitoring Teams, Slack, SMS, WhatsApp, and other collaboration platforms.

As AI continues to improve phishing and impersonation techniques, regular employee training across all communication channels may become just as important as the security technology itself.