If the public sector had unlimited cybersecurity budgets and fully staffed SOCs, today’s threat landscape would look very different. But that’s not reality.
If the public sector had unlimited cybersecurity budgets and fully staffed SOCs, today’s threat landscape would look very different. But that’s not reality.
Public sector organizations are operating in a threat environment that is both relentless and increasingly personal.
Federal agencies, state and local governments and educational institutions are prime targets for ransomware, phishing, business email compromise (BEC) and credential theft.
With 320 million daily users on Microsoft Teams, the ability to connect with colleagues across the organization has never been more seamless… or more targeted.
The shift isn’t just about where we talk; it’s about how we are being attacked. Threat actors moving beyond phishing emails and are infiltrating into the trusted spaces where your employees feel safest.
Starting in 2023, hackers began shifting their focus to Microsoft Teams with massive success, exploiting a high-trust environment where users are significantly more likely to comply with deceptive, urgent requests. By 2025, threat actors introduced callback phishing and voice phishing (vishing) as preferred methods to manipulate employees directly through Microsoft Teams.
Because of the level of sophistication in these attacks, relying solely on native anti-phishing rules has proven risky. Recent logic errors in these heuristic systems have caused significant operational disruptions, mistakenly blocking thousands of legitimate work messages and critical links.
Introducing the Microsoft Teams Phish Alert Button (PAB)
To meet these escalating threats, KnowBe4 is extending our defenses into the collaboration space. The Microsoft Teams Phish Alert Button allows your workforce to remain vigilant outside the inbox and report suspicious activity using the same workflow you’ve already trained them to use.
By adding the Microsoft Teams PAB to your arsenal, your organization gains:
Every year on March 31st, World Backup Day rolls around with a simple but important message: Backup your data.
Researchers at SpyCloud warn that the number of stolen identity records on criminal forums rose to 65.7 billion in 2025, a 23% increase from the previous year.
Researchers at Malwarebytes warn that cybercriminals are peddling stolen tax documents for as low as $4 per identity, with freshly stolen forms selling for $20 each. These documents allow threat actors to conduct refund fraud, using stolen personal information to claim victims’ tax refunds.
Researchers at LayerX warn that custom fonts can fool AI web assistants into thinking phishing pages are benign, while the human user sees something completely different.
