Why CISOs Should Hunt Phishing Campaigns, Not Individual Emails

Jan de Vries · 2026-07-30

If you're a CISO, you know the feeling. Your inbox is a war zone, and every alert is a potential landmine. You're drowning in indicators of compromise (IOCs), each one screaming for attention. But here's the uncomfortable truth: chasing individual emails is exhausting, inefficient, and frankly, a losing battle. It's time to zoom out and think in campaigns. ### The Problem with IOC Fatigue IOC fatigue is real. It happens when your security team is bombarded with so many alerts that they start tuning out. When everything is urgent, nothing is urgent. You're not just dealing with a technical challenge; you're dealing with a human one. Analysts burn out, miss critical threats, and turnover spikes. The cost? A stressed team, missed attacks, and a false sense of security. The old way of doing things—treating each phishing email as a one-off incident—is broken. It's like trying to stop a flood by scooping water with a teaspoon. You'll never catch up. Attackers don't send one email and call it a day. They launch coordinated campaigns, testing your defenses, learning your weaknesses, and adapting on the fly. ### Thinking in Campaigns, Not Emails So, what's the shift? Instead of asking "What is this email?" you should be asking "What is this campaign trying to achieve?" It's a fundamental change in perspective. A campaign is a series of related attacks, all sharing a common goal, infrastructure, or tactic. By grouping these together, you're not just reacting to a single event; you're understanding the broader strategy. This approach gives you a massive advantage. You can spot patterns that individual emails would never reveal. For example, you might notice that a specific lure is being used across multiple departments, or that a particular IP address is sending variations of the same message. That's not noise; that's a signal. When you see the full picture, you can move from a reactive stance to a proactive one. ### Better Visibility and Faster Response Campaign-based detection improves visibility in a way that tick-box alerts never could. You start to see the attack surface as a whole, not just a collection of isolated incidents. This means you can prioritize what matters. Instead of a queue of a thousand alerts, you get a handful of campaigns. That's a workload your team can actually manage. And when you can see the campaign, you can respond faster. Instead of investigating each email from scratch, you can shut down the whole operation at once. Block the infrastructure, quarantine the messages, and alert the affected users. It's a coordinated response to a coordinated threat. The time saved is enormous, and that time translates directly into reduced risk. ### Reducing Analyst Fatigue, One Campaign at a Time Let's talk about your analysts. They're your most valuable asset, and right now, they're drowning. By shifting to a campaign mindset, you give them a breather. They're not chasing ghosts; they're solving puzzles. This is more engaging, more rewarding, and far less likely to lead to burnout. When your team feels effective, they stay. When they stay, your security posture improves. Here's what a campaign-based approach actually looks like in practice: - **Group related alerts** to see the attack's full scope. - **Prioritize by campaign severity**, not just individual email risk. - **Automate responses** for known campaign patterns. - **Share intelligence** across teams to break silos. ### The Bottom Line The end of IOC fatigue isn't a fantasy; it's a strategy. It's about working smarter, not harder. By thinking in campaigns, you're not just improving your visibility or speeding up your response. You're building a security culture that's sustainable. Your analysts will thank you, your board will thank you, and your organization will be safer for it. The shift isn't always easy, but the payoff is worth it. Stop fighting the flood one drop at a time, and start redirecting the river.