Email threat types: Brand impersonation

Topics:

Updated: Sep. 3, 2026

Brand impersonation is an attack that impersonates a company or brand to hide the malicious intent of an email. The idea behind it is that a recipient will respond and provide sensitive information on the assumption that the email is from a trusted sender.

Microsoft is the most impersonated brand in spear-phishing attacks. Other commonly impersonated brands include Apple, Netflix, eBay, and PayPal. Barracuda researchers have found that Google-branded attacks account for 65 percent of form-based brand impersonation attacks in 2020

Brand impersonation is one of the threats identified in our free e-book, 13 email threats to know about right now. Get your copy now and learn how to defend against this and other dangerous email threats.

Christine Barry

Christine Barry Senior Chief Cybersecurity Storyteller and Content Manager at Barracuda. Prior to joining Barracuda, Christine was a field engineer and project manager for K12 and SMB clients for over 15 years. She holds several technology and project management credentials, a Bachelor of Arts, and a Master of Business Administration. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Connect with Christine on LinkedIn here.

Join our Reddit community!

Search the blog

2026 Email Threats Report

Learn how AI and phishing-as-a-service are reshaping the email threat landscape and how to stay protected

Get the report

The Managed XDR Global Threat Report

Key findings about the tactics attackers use to target organizations and the security weak spots they try to exploit

Get the report