Email security in 2025: balancing human error and AI-driven safeguards

Despite its enduring dominance, email remains vulnerable amid rising sophisticated cyber threats. Organisations must now combine employee awareness, clear policies, and advanced AI tools to protect this vital communication channel in 2025.

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape workplace productivity, email maintains its position as the cornerstone of professional communication in 2025. Despite the proliferation of new communication tools and AI-powered applications, email remains indispensable for everything from casual exchanges to the transmission of sensitive documents. Recent research indicates that over 90% of employees regard email as “important” or “very important” to their daily work, underscoring its critical role amidst evolving digital environments. However, this reliance on email brings growing security vulnerabilities that demand urgent and multifaceted attention.

Email’s robustness in business communication is clear: a staggering 4.6 billion people worldwide use email, sending and receiving more than 376 billion messages daily. Among professionals, 93% check their email daily, and 86% prefer it as their main communication channel in business settings. Employees receive on average 121 emails and send about 40 per workday, highlighting how deeply embedded email is in organisational workflows. Correspondingly, nearly half of global IT leaders report email as their primary tool for both internal and external communications, valuing its clarity, auditability, and cross-functional reach amid increasingly siloed digital workplaces.

Yet, the very aspect that makes email so crucial also cultivates serious security risks. Organisations face a growing threat landscape where inbound dangers like phishing and ransomware attacks are increasingly sophisticated, often harnessing AI to craft more deceptive and nuanced exploits. Techniques such as payloadless phishing allow cybercriminals to impersonate trusted contacts without deploying traditional malware, making detection harder. IT leaders rank these inbound threats as a top concern, but an often overlooked and equally perilous risk lies in outbound email security.

Human error drives much of the outbound risk — misdirected emails, inadvertent sharing of sensitive information, and improper encryption of attachments are common pitfalls. More than half of employees admit to making email mistakes several times a year, with 30% reporting mistakes almost weekly. This is exacerbated by hybrid and remote work environments, where employees operate across multiple devices and networks, complicating enforcement of email security policies. Alarming statistics reveal that only 73% of employees are aware of their organisation’s email security policies, and just slightly over half consistently follow them, pointing to significant gaps in policy communication and employee support.

The healthcare sector illustrates the scale and severity of these vulnerabilities starkly. A recent report highlights rampant email-related security failures, with Microsoft 365—a dominant enterprise platform—emerging as the most common point of failure. In the first half of 2025 alone, 107 attacks targeted healthcare organisations, compromising over 1.6 million patient records. Microsoft 365 accounted for 52% of these breaches, up from 43% the previous year. The largest breach affected over half a million records, demonstrating that premium security provider branding does not guarantee immunity; rather, proper configuration and enforcement of security protocols are essential.

To address these intertwined challenges, businesses must adopt a comprehensive approach to email security. Beyond conventional training on phishing recognition, employee education should extend to understanding risks associated with outbound email errors and the vital reasons underpinning security policies. Fostering a security-conscious culture is crucial for empowering employees to adhere to guidelines diligently.

Simultaneously, technology plays an indispensable role. Rather than focusing exclusively on inbound threats, organisations need to invest in solutions that mitigate outbound risks effectively. Advanced AI-driven tools now offer real-time assistance by flagging sensitive attachments, verifying recipient addresses based on context, and even recalling emails sent in error. Seamlessly integrated into daily workflows, such technologies not only reduce costly mistakes but also help maintain compliance and enforce policies without hampering productivity.

While email remains the dominant communication medium, organisations are increasingly recognising the value of complementing it with digital collaboration platforms to boost efficiency and reduce time spent on administrative tasks. Tools that centralise messaging, file sharing, and coordination can relieve some of the burdens associated with managing large volumes of email and foster more streamlined teamwork.

In sum, email is far from obsolete—even as AI and alternative communication methods advance, its role as a secure, reliable, and structured communication channel endures. Meeting the security challenges of 2025 will require a balanced synthesis of awareness, policy clarity, and cutting-edge technology to safeguard this critical communication lifeline. Addressing both human and technical vulnerabilities ensures that email remains a safe and effective cornerstone of modern workplace communication.

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Source: Noah Wire Services