The 5 Most Common Hacks to Your Email, and How to Prevent Them

I’ve been working in cybersecurity since the early 2000s—actually, that’s not true. For as long as there’s even been a term for it — cybersecurity. In ‘93, I was a network admin who was dealing with PSTN muxes and voice/data copper lines. Fast forward to today, I am leading PJ Networks, a business keeping banks secure in terms of their infrastructure and making sure that businesses are not the latest target of Business Email Compromise (BEC). I’m fresh off DefCon, which was one big reset for me, I think, I’m still riding the high of watching people rip IoT devices in half like they’re oranges over in the hardware hacking village. But you know what still gets me? How many still have their email hacked the old-school way. Hackers don’t require any fancy exploits if humans keep clicking on dodgy links and recycling passwords.

Here’s the thing. A strong password isn’t all that’s needed for email security. Let’s look into the best-known methods cybercriminals use to get into your inbox — and how you can prevent them.

Quick Take

If you’re in a rush here’s the TL;DR:

• Phishing attacks – Social engineering to steal your credentials
• Credential theft — Stolen passwords from data breaches and poor security.
• Business Email Compromise (BEC) — Hackers take over email accounts to commit fraud.
• Cyberattacks that let attackers stay on devices (e.g. malware & keyloggers) Malware & Keyloggers—Compromised devices that capture login credentials.
• PJ Networks Email Protection—AI Email Security (but it’s not all AI magic, let’s be honest)

Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.

1. Phishing Attacks

I’ve repeated this twice, and I’ll repeat this again—phishing isn’t a Nigerian prince scam anymore. (Though those still exist.) Today’s attackers forge perfect copies of the login pages of Google, Microsoft and banks. And unlike the scams that proliferated in the 2000s with abysmal grammar, these emails look legit.

How They Do It:

• Faked emails that look like they are from your boss, IT department or a service you trust.
• Fake login screens to get username and password (for example, from Office365 or Gmail)
• Spear-phishing: custom-built emails targeting you using data from social media.

How to Stop It:

• Check the URLs properly before login Hover over links first.
• Turn on MFA — if hackers take your password, they still can’t log in without the second factor.
• Train Employees — So much of security is about knowing what to look for.

2. Credential Theft

If I had a dollar for every time that someone reused a password across different accounts, I’d be retired already.

The scary thing is, phishing is not even required for most credential theft. Essentially, hackers buy password dumps from breaches.

Real-World Example:

A few years back, we were working with a financial institution that had suffered a breach. It turned out that an employee’s personal email was compromised, and, surprise surprise, they used the same password for their corporate email. One stolen password later, the attacker had unfettered access to internal emails. No malware. No fancy attack. Just bad password habits.

How to Stop It:

• Use a password manager — so you don’t have to recall 100 different passwords.
• Wherever possible, enable MFA — so attackers can’t just access an account with a stolen password.
• Keep track of breached credentials — Services such as “haveibeenpwned” (or enterprise solutions) can help detect compromised emails early.

3. BEC (Business email compromise)

This one? It’s dangerous. My biggest concern for businesses at the moment.

BEC attacks are when hackers break into a real email account and use it to defraud people. Picture this: Your CFO’s email is compromised, and a cybercriminal sends an urgent request to accounts payable — pay $500,000 to this new vendor. It happens all the time.

How They Do It:

• An account is hacked (through phishing or compromised credentials).
• They lurk, sometimes for weeks, watching conversations until they suss an opening.
• Fake invoices or payment requests that look a little real.
• The time it takes for someone to catch on? Money’s gone.

How to Stop It:

• Confirm payment requests by phone — not just by email.
• Watch for unusual changes in logins using filtering in your email—like location.
• Enforce Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) — Minimize who can issue large withdrawals.

4. Malware & Keyloggers

And sometimes hackers don’t even need to phish you. They just listen in.

How They Do It:

• Keyloggers log everything you type — including passwords — in secret.
• Infostealers pull saved passwords out of browsers, a common fall.
• Certain malware picks up two-factor authentication codes (sim-swaps are a thing).

How to Stop It:

• Use endpoint protection — real security, not some lame old antivirus.
• Use hardware security keys — These protect against most phishing and keylogging attempts.
• Save passwords in browsers—A password manager is safer.

5. Email Protection Solutions from PJ Networks

Every single day we see email security failures. That’s why we created solutions that are not only threat detectors but prevention vehicles.

What makes us different?

• AI-Powered Threat Detection — Yeah, I know. AI is a buzzword. In reality, however, we train our models on actual attack patterns — as opposed to simply static rule sets.
• Zero-Trust Architecture — Assisted three of the largest banks in the United States in strengthening controls to ensure the capacity to access email is not provisioned without proper verification.
• Continuous Monitoring — Alerts when unusual login activity occurs. If someone suddenly logs in from Russia while you’re in India? That’s a red flag.

You’re behind already if you’re still on basic email security tools. We can assist in interrogating your risk prior to an attack.

Final Thoughts

Here’s the ugly reality of email security — most breaches are not remotely the result of advanced hacking techniques. They occur because someone clicked something they shouldn’t have, reused a password or ignored an alert. Email attacks are popular with cybercriminals as they scale. One phishing kit can target thousands of companies within minutes.

So: Worry a lot about email security.

• Educate your employees.
• Use MFA.
• Strengthen your security stack.

Hackers are getting better. Are you?

Contact PJ Networks today for assistance in securing your email systems – before it’s too late.