Phishing has become a persistent and expensive problem in financial services. Every week brings a new report of credential theft, spoofed domains, or fraudulent transfers. And while large banks have long been targets, the threat is spreading fast to smaller wealthtech firms, investment platforms, and fintech service providers.

The rise of digital-first financial services has made it easier for users to move money, share data, and interact with advisors. But it’s also made impersonation attacks more effective. Fake portals and spoofed email domains now mimic real investor dashboards and customer support threads. Some attackers go further, posing as specific team members or advisors in carefully crafted phishing messages.

Most firms have strong technical safeguards in place, such as firewalls, authentication layers, and encryption protocols. But attackers rarely go through the front door. Instead, they exploit routine behaviors: clicking a link from what looks like a co-worker, opening a document from a familiar vendor, or trusting a login page that’s off by a single character. In most breaches, the failure starts with one person who made a mistake.

Fighting back against this trend means building a multilayered defense, one that includes not just infrastructure, but people. That requires more than annual training sessions or policy PDFs. It means helping every team member, from client-facing reps to back office operations, understand how real threats appear and evolve.

This is where behavior-driven training becomes essential.

Hook Security, a company focused on psychological security awareness training, works with financial firms to address this human layer. Rather than rely on fear or compliance language, the company emphasizes engagement and retention. Their model, built around short-form training and micro-simulations, is designed to reflect how phishing attacks happen in practice, and how people respond under pressure.

The key is repetition and relevance. Hook Security delivers lessons as micro-content — short, high-impact videos and simulations designed to fit naturally into daily workflows. When someone falls for a simulation, they’re guided through a targeted follow-up, reinforcing the exact scenario that tripped them up. Over time, these small moments build lasting habits.

But awareness training is only part of the picture. Firms are also adapting their internal workflows to reduce exposure. Some are tightening permissions and limiting access to sensitive tools. Others are restructuring how they manage external communications, ensuring clients and vendors know exactly what to expect from official messages. These changes help, but only if employees are consistently aligned with the policies behind them.

That’s why culture matters.

Hook Security places strong emphasis on sentiment tracking and internal perception, not just click rates or course completions. Their clients gain insight into how secure employees feel, whether they’re confident in spotting a threat, or whether they feel supported in asking questions. It’s a subtle shift, but one that helps turn security from an obligation into a shared responsibility.

Phishing isn’t going away. If anything, it’s adapting faster than most companies can respond. And in sectors like financial services, where data, money, and trust are deeply intertwined, even a minor lapse can create outsized consequences.

Fighting back means recognizing that technology alone won’t solve the problem. People remain the most frequent point of failure, but also the most powerful line of defense. With consistent, psychologically-informed training and a culture that values vigilance, firms can reduce risk without slowing down operations.

In that effort, tools like Hook Security aren’t just checkboxes for compliance. They’re part of a broader strategy to protect the firm where it matters most, at the human level.