Whaling is a type of phishing attack that specifically targets high-level executives and decision-makers to steal money or sensitive information. These attacks focus on the biggest targets in your organization, like the CEO, CFO, and other C-suite executives, who have access to highly sensitive financial systems and the authority to sign off on large transactions.

These attacks work because they exploit how executives operate. Leaders often work odd hours, make time-sensitive decisions, and have unique communication patterns. Attackers study these habits and use them to their advantage.

Recent whaling attacks have made headlines and cost organizations serious money. In early 2025, Arup’s Hong Kong office fell victim to an AI-driven whaling scam. Deepfake video and voice clones of executives convinced a finance employee to transfer HK$200 million (US$25.6 million) to fraudsters. 

Fun fact: The term "whaling" comes from the size and value of the target, similar to how historical whalers hunted the largest creatures in the ocean for their valuable resources. Modern cybercriminals use the same logic. Why target small fish when you can go after the whales with access to the biggest payouts?

Spear phishing is a targeted phishing attack aimed at specific employees or teams across an organization. Instead of going after the C-suite alone, attackers often target HR staff, IT admins, finance teams, and other employees with access to useful systems, data, or workflows.

These attacks usually appear as highly personalized emails or messages impersonating a trusted vendor, internal colleague, or service provider. The goal is to get just one person to click, download, approve, or submit something they shouldn’t.

Huntress’ 2025 reporting shows just how common brand impersonation remains in these campaigns. Across 285 phishing groups, Microsoft-branded emails accounted for nearly 40% of incidents, while DocuSign accounted for nearly 25%. Other commonly impersonated brands included Dropbox, ShareFile, Adobe, Paychex, and Apple.

The biggest difference between whaling and spear phishing is the target.

• Whaling focuses on senior executives and key decision-makers with authority over money, strategy, or sensitive business data.

• Spear phishing focuses more broadly on employees who can provide access, credentials, approvals, or footholds into the business.

Whaling attacks are typically more customized and may involve multi-step deception, including impersonation, voice cloning, or deepfake-assisted social engineering. Spear phishing campaigns are still personalized, but they’re often run at broader scale across multiple users or departments.

Whether the attack is aimed at the CEO or a frontline employee, the consequences can be severe.

Phishing remains one of the most expensive and effective attack paths. According to Huntress’ phishing statistics page, phishing remains an initial attack vector with an average cost of $4.88 million per incident in 2025, while BEC attacks caused $6.3 billion in losses, according to the 2025 Verizon DBIR.

The broader exposure is also significant. Huntress reports that 44% of organizations experienced phishing attacks, including spear phishing and whaling.

And the risk isn’t just financial. The 2025 Verizon DBIR found that 60% of breaches involved the human element, which is exactly why these socially engineered attacks continue to bypass traditional defenses.

Once a phishing email lands, defenders have almost no time to react. Huntress reports that the median time it takes for a user to click a phishing link and submit their information is under 60 seconds.

That means a single lapse can quickly lead to credential theft, wire fraud, data loss, operational disruption, regulatory consequences, and long-term reputational damage.

Defending against these attacks requires more than a single email filter or awareness reminder. Effective protection has to be layered.

Identity monitoring and authentication

Multi-factor authentication should be standard, especially for finance systems, privileged accounts, and administrator access. ITDR adds another critical layer by helping identify anomalous authentication behavior before an attacker can move deeper into the environment.

Security awareness training

Employees need ongoing training that reflects how phishing actually works today. Executives need it too, since their visibility and authority make them prime targets for more severe and more customized attacks.

Huntress Managed SAT includes engaging, story-driven training, phishing simulations based on real-world threats, automatic reminders, monthly reports, personalized phishing recovery training, gamification, and detailed reporting to help teams reinforce behavior change over time.

Verification protocols

High-risk requests should never be approved solely over email. Wires, credential resets, system changes, and vendor-payment changes should all require separate verification through a known phone number, in-person confirmation, or internal chat.

Phishing preys on helpfulness and urgency, so when a message feels even slightly off, the recipient should verify it through direct means like IM, a phone call, or face-to-face communication.

Better reporting and coaching

A mature phishing defense program should measure more than clicks. Huntress emphasizes report rate as a more valuable leading indicator than click rate alone, and its reporting helps admins track trends over time and identify higher-risk departments, roles, or users.

Threat actors don’t just target one layer of the business. They target whoever is most likely to give them access, whether that’s a finance executive, an HR manager, an IT admin, or an end user moving too quickly.

Huntress helps close those gaps with a layered approach. Managed SAT helps employees recognize and report phishing attempts, while Managed ITDR tracks identity behavior to help detect and stop suspicious access before it becomes a broader compromise.

The bottom line: your organization is only as strong as the people, processes, and protections around it. And in a threat landscape where users can be compromised in under a minute, layered defense is essential.

See how Huntress can help protect your organization from spear phishing, whaling, and other targeted attacks witha free trial of Huntress Managed SAT.