How 5Tattva’s structured approach is transforming the frontline of email threat detection
When an email marked “URGENT: Salary Discrepancy” lands in a company inbox, it’s not always what it seems. For a Security Operations Center (SOC) analyst, it’s not just another task—it’s a potential crisis waiting to unfold. In today’s threat landscape, phishing emails are no longer amateur scams riddled with typos. They’re well-crafted, emotionally charged, and often indistinguishable from legitimate messages—until you know what to look for.
At 5Tattva, a cybersecurity consulting firm that works closely with enterprise SOC teams, phishing detection is not treated as an afterthought—it’s a core skill. “Every phishing email is a test of attention, instinct, and procedure,” says Manpreet Singh, Co-Founder and Principal Consultant at 5Tattva. “If we can train analysts to think like attackers, we can beat them at their own game.”
The company’s newly developed guide for SOC analysts outlines a structured approach to email phishing analysis. It starts with the basics—identity. A spoofed sender name, like “CEO John Smith,” may conceal a dubious Gmail account. Analysts are taught to verify not just the display name, but the domain, its registration history, and the likelihood of such communication being genuine.
“Every phishing email is a test of attention, instinct, and procedure. If we can train analysts to think like attackers, we can beat them at their own game.”
— Manpreet Singh, Co-Founder & Principal Consultant, 5Tattva
Next comes the subject line—a psychological trigger point. Whether it’s fake urgency (“Account Locked!”) or temptation (“You’ve won a gift card!”), phishing thrives on emotional manipulation. SOC teams are trained to spot patterns in subject lines that seek to bypass rational thinking and provoke action.
Beyond that lies the real detective work—analyzing the email body. Hovering over links to reveal mismatched URLs, inspecting suspicious attachments, and noting unnatural tone or grammatical inconsistencies are all part of the checklist. “Phishing has become more sophisticated, but so have we,” Singh notes. “Sometimes it’s a single misplaced letter in a domain or a subtle shift in language that gives the attacker away.”
For advanced analysis, the guide dives into email headers and authentication protocols. Misaligned “From” and “Reply-To” fields, foreign IPs masked behind local sender names, and failed SPF, DKIM, or DMARC checks can all confirm malicious intent. Even newer standards like BIMI, though not strictly security-focused, help build a picture of email legitimacy.
Once a phish is confirmed, the response is swift. The email is removed from inboxes, the domain is blocked, and an investigation begins. But more importantly, the incident becomes a training opportunity for the wider organization. “We don’t just solve the case—we teach others how to spot the next one,” Singh emphasizes.
As phishing campaigns evolve in complexity and frequency, tools alone aren’t enough. It’s the combination of mindset, method, and continuous learning that keeps organizations resilient. And for SOC analysts at the frontlines, guides like the one from 5Tattva are less about theory and more about survival.
