During major technical outages like the recent AWS disruption, attackers often take advantage of the confusion to launch convincing phishing campaigns.
As organizations scramble to restore services and communicate with users, threat actors exploit that uncertainty by sending fake outage alerts, status updates, or credential requests. Now is the time to strengthen your cyber defense architecture and ensure phishing protection is a core component of your response strategy.
The fallout is a timely reminder: even the biggest cloud providers aren’t immune to disruption. In terms of security (and business continuity) relying on one provider, or only one layer of defense, is risky.
This incident offers a clear lesson for cyber defenders: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Instead, build a multi-layered phishing defense program that combines user education, real-time threat intelligence, automated detection, and human oversight.
The Hidden Risk of “One-and-Done” Security
Too many organizations build their phishing defense strategy around a single tool or control. An Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) solution. An endpoint detection suite. A secure email gateway.
These are all valuable, but none of them are infallible. Threats evolve. Attackers adapt. Configurations drift. And sooner or later, one layer will miss something.
The question isn’t if a phishing attack happens. It’s what stands ready to stop it if it does.
That’s where a multi-layered defense proves its value: a resilient strategy designed to absorb failure, adapt, and keep your organization protected.
The Most Overlooked Layer: People
Phishing remains the primary method by which attackers breach networks. Even as organizations strengthen their cloud, perimeter, and endpoint defenses, adversaries find ways to evade them and breach inboxes.
Every phishing email that lands in a user’s inbox is an opportunity for an attacker. And every employee who can spot and report that email is an opportunity for defense.
That’s why human resilience and purpose-built phishing protection must be part of your layered defense.
Cofense: A Layer Built for Phishing Defense
At Cofense, we believe that you can’t fully stop phishing without involving people.
Our platform helps organizations turn their users into human sensors, while giving security teams the visibility and automation to respond faster than ever.
Here’s how Cofense augments your security stack:
- Real phishing detection, powered by real people.
Cofense Intelligence leverages global user reporting and expert analysis to identify and neutralize active phishing campaigns before they can spread. - Training that actually changes behavior.
Cofense Security Awareness Training (SAT) uses real-world phishing threats to teach employees what an attack really looks like, not what canned templates pretend it is. - Post-delivery detection and response.
Even when a phishing email slips past your secure email gateway, Cofense PDR (Phishing Detection and Response) will rapidly identify, quarantine, and remove it. - SOC-ready integrations.
Our intelligence feeds and APIs plug into SIEM, SOAR, and TIP tools, giving analysts a clear picture of active phishing threats and helping automate remediation.
Together, these capabilities form a dedicated layer of phishing defense that sits alongside your technical controls, bridging the gap between technology and human awareness.
Why Layering Matters Now More Than Ever
Whether it’s a cloud outage or a phishing campaign, overreliance on one defense leaves you exposed.
Just as organizations are rethinking multi-cloud resilience after the AWS incident, security leaders should be rethinking their phishing defense strategy:
- If one layer fails, does another catch it?
- Are users trained to recognize and report phishing?
- Do you have visibility into what’s getting through your filters?
- Can you respond in minutes, not hours, when phishing strikes?
Phishing is no longer a “people problem.” It’s a resilience problem.
Cofense provides the layer that ensures your people and your security stack work together to stop attacks in real time. See how Cofense can empower your people and your SOC to stop phishing fast.