Quishing Defense for IT Teams: Detecting QR Phishing in Email and Documents

1. Why It Slips Through

Text-based URL scanners may not inspect pixels. A QR code inside an image or PDF can hide the link, and the victim opens it on a personal phone outside corporate controls.

2. Technical Controls

* Use email security that decodes QR codes in images and attachments and evaluates the target URL. * Enforce phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication such as passkeys or hardware keys, so stolen passwords alone are not enough. * Apply conditional access that checks device compliance for sign-ins. * Provide managed mobile browsers or DNS protection on corporate devices.

3. Process Controls

Require out-of-band verification for any QR request involving credentials or payments, and publish a simple reporting path.

4. Training

Run simulations that include QR lures and teach staff to read the destination domain before opening it.