Report by KnowBe4

Q1 2025 Phishing Report

9 FINDINGSPublished Apr 28, 2025
View Original Report →

Key Findings

Over 60% of top-clicked phishing emails were related to HR and IT.

EmailPhishingImpersonationHRIT

People were more likely to click on links related to internal topics or impersonating known brands, accounting for 61.6% of clicks.

EmailPhishingImpersonation

The top three QR codes scanned in simulations related to: A new drug and alcohol policy from HR (14.7%), A DocuSign for review and signing (13.7%), A Workday happy birthday message (12.7%).

EmailPhishingImpersonationQR

In attachment-based campaigns, people were most likely to open certain file types: PDFs (53%), HTML files (28.5%), Word files (18.5%).

EmailPhishingImpersonationPDFHTML

68.6% of clicked links involved domain spoofing.

EmailPhishingImpersonationSpoofing

60.7% of the phishing simulations that were clicked mentioned an internal team.

EmailPhishingImpersonation

Internal communications are a significant driver of phishing failures. Emails impersonating internal teams, particularly HR and IT, received the most failures in phishing simulations.

EmailPhishingHRIT

49.7% of clicked phishing simulations mentioned HR.

EmailPhishingImpersonationHR

In attachment-based campaigns, people were most likely to open certain file types: PDFs (53%), HTML files (28.5%), Word files (18.5%).

EmailPhishingImpersonationPDFHTML