# Towards a Hybrid Security Framework for Phishing Awareness Education and Defense
###### Abstract  
The rise in generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has led to the development of more sophisticated phishing email attacks, as well as an increase in research on using AI to aid the detection of these advanced attacks. Successful phishing email attacks severely impact businesses, as employees are usually the vulnerable targets. Defense against such attacks, therefore, requires realizing defense along both technological and human vectors. Security hardening research work along the technological vector is few and focuses mainly on the use of machine learning and natural language processing to distinguish between machine- and human-generated text. Common existing approaches to harden security along the human vector consist of third-party organized training programmes, the content of which needs to be updated over time. There is, to date, no reported approach that provides both phishing attack detection and progressive end-user training. In this paper, we present our contribution, which includes the design and development of an integrated approach that employs AI-assisted and generative AI platforms for phishing attack detection and continuous end-user education in a hybrid security framework. This framework supports scenario-customizable and evolving user education in dealing with increasingly advanced phishing email attacks. The technological design and functional details for both platforms are presented and discussed. Performance tests showed that the phishing attack detection sub-system using the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) deep learning model architecture achieved the best overall results: above 94% accuracy, above 95% precision, and above 94% recall. p 2024 16 86 1722024 16 1722024  
AI model to monitor all incoming messages could go a long way towards preventing AI phishing attacks, the cost may still be prohibitively high. While investing in robust security solutions is important for businesses, it is equally important to recognize that employees play a pivotal role as the first line of defense against email phishing attacks. Training via third-party courses or workshops is inadequate in preventing human error or reducing it on a sustainable basis [4; 8]. Without proper ongoing learning in place, employees may face risks of becoming victims if training does not sufficiently equip them to recognize diversity in phishing threats or to detect threats of increasing sophistication. In addition, theory and practical experience of email phishing attacks and how to deal with them are very helpful. Numerous sectors, including cybersecurity, internet service providers, web security firms, and online businesses that depend on the security of their customers' data can gain from this education. Generative AI models can also make security awareness training more customizable, efficient, and effective. For instance, an AI chatbot could automatically adapt a training curriculum on a user-by-user basis to address an individual's weak spots, based on historical or real-time performance data. Additionally, the technology can identify lapses in attack-specific awareness over time and deliver refresher-training content accordingly. Phishing campaigns have been employed by organizations not only to train but also to test the awareness of their employees against various phishing attacks [4; 8]. Crafted test emails embedded with links, like those used in actual attacks, are sent to employees. Organizations can then identify at-risk employees who click on these links and reveal themselves to be vulnerable to actual attacks. These employees can then be selected for re-education to refresh their awareness and/or enrich their experience. That said, there is no guarantee that a well-trained workforce will always be safe against phishing attacks. Therefore, to comprehensively protect an organization's digital well-being, the need arises for a hybrid security framework that accommodates suitable AI-assisted phishing detection technology to reinforce a customizable, evolving security awareness education.