White Paper

Rebuilding Trust in Digital Communications

The threat curve has reset. AI hasn't just evolved attacks, it's made "solved" problems like phishing and BEC immature and dangerous again.

87.5% of organizations experienced at least one trust-undermining incident in the past year. Legacy defenses are explicitly failing. And security leaders are ready to take drastic action (70% are willing to replace their entire security stack).

This research reveals:

  • Why even "solved" attack types are immature again
  • Hard evidence that SEGs and training are failing
  • What 128 security leaders are doing next (and why now)

Read the report for third-party validation of what your team is experiencing and how to rebuild trust before threats mature further.

Download 2026 Osterman Report
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to Email Security

Protect your employees' inboxes from advanced phishing attacks that others miss, with the only technology that combines AI and human insights. Our platform is quick to deploy and dead simple to manage (so you get instant protection).

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Block advanced phishing and BEC attacks (and never seen before threats) with our Adaptive AI—dynamically sharpened by real-world user insights and a community of over 36,000 threat hunters.

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Slash the time your team spends remediating email incidents from 30 minutes per incident to 30 seconds. Our Adaptive AI scans every email for malicious indicators. When it finds a threat, it doesn’t just block it, it automatically finds and remediates all others like it in your environment.

“IRONSCALES has cut the number of man hours down by 95%.”

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Augustine Boateng

Interim Chief Information Officer, City of Memphis

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Empower your Org

Triple the email security awareness of your workforce and transform your employees into a crucial line of phishing defense. We make it dead simple to sharpen your employees' understanding of real-world threats with:

  • Phishing simulation testing
  • Security awareness training (SAT)
  • Dynamic email banners

...and a GPT-powered chat assistant

3X

Awareness

With integrated simulation and training

90%

Reduction

In employees clicking malicious links and attachments

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Case Studies

"The ability to provide real-time feedback on both positive and negative performance has proven very effective. It’s a wake-up call for our employees.”
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Frequently Asked Questions

Learn more about the 2026 Osterman Research findings.

What is the main finding of the Rebuilding Trust in Digital Communications report?

The threat curve has reset. Osterman Research found that AI has made attack types organizations considered solved, like phishing and business email compromise, immature and dangerous again. 87.5% of organizations experienced at least one security incident that undermined trust in the past 12 months, and 82% saw higher threat actor interest in compromising their digital communications.

Why are secure email gateways struggling against AI-powered phishing?

Osterman Research calls SEGs and similar tools "too blunt an instrument to recognize the subtle indicators of modern and still emerging AI-powered attacks." They look for malicious links, weaponized attachments, and account impersonation. AI-generated phishing arrives with perfect spelling and grammar, often from a compromised legitimate account, in a tone that blends into existing email threads.

How prepared are organizations for deepfake attacks?

Not very. 60% of organizations lack confidence in their ability to counter deepfake audio and video attacks, even though many have started preparing. The report found training on deepfake detection particularly ineffective, and respondents expect detecting deepfake audio impersonation to grow in importance more than any other defensive capability over the next 12 months.

Are organizations willing to replace their security stack?

Many are. 70% of the security leaders surveyed say they're willing to replace their entire security stack for a platform with demonstrably better protection against emerging attacks. Adding specialized point solutions and building their own protections are also on the table, a sign that buyers are ready to move off defenses that haven't kept up with AI.

What happens when organizations fail to stop trust-weaponizing attacks?

55% of respondents say failing to counter attacks that weaponize trust significantly increases the likelihood of a data breach. The other costs follow close behind. Respondents cite hits to employee productivity and workflow efficiency, a reduced ability to engage with customers, and declining market capitalization.

Who conducted the research?

Osterman Research, an independent analyst firm, conducted the research and wrote the report, which Ironscales commissioned. The survey reached 128 US-based respondents with direct responsibility for their organization's cybersecurity posture, at organizations with 1,000 to 5,000 employees. Fieldwork ran from September 10 to October 7, 2025, across industries.

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