Get Started
Login

The $9.36M SMS Security Gap: Why Enterprise Cybersecurity Stacks Are Still Failing

Executive Summary

Enterprise cybersecurity programs are more mature than ever, yet SMS threat detection for enterprises remains largely absent from most security stacks.

Organizations rely on EDR, SIEM, email security, and endpoint protection to reduce risk — but SMS-based phishing and brand impersonation attacks routinely bypass these controls. The result is a growing enterprise SMS security gap that contributes to breaches averaging $9.36 million per incident.

This is not a failure of execution.

It’s a failure of coverage.

Why Enterprise Cybersecurity Stacks Are Still Failing

Enterprise cybersecurity programs are more mature than ever, yet SMS threat detection for enterprises remains largely absent from most security stacks.

Organizations rely on EDR, SIEM, email security, and endpoint protection to reduce risk — but SMS-based phishing and brand impersonation attacks routinely bypass these controls. The result is a growing enterprise SMS security gap that contributes to breaches averaging $9.36 million per incident.

This is not a failure of execution.
It’s a failure of coverage.

 

Why SMS Threats Are So Effective Against Enterprises

SMS was built for speed and trust — not security. That makes it uniquely effective for fraud. Research from the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) shows:

  • 70% of adults globally encountered a scam in the past year
  • Around one in ten people experience scam attempts daily
  • 64% of scams succeed within 24 hours, with nearly half succeeding within minutes

For enterprises, this means SMS attacks often succeed before traditional detection or response processes activate.

Compounding the problem:

  • SMS reaches personal devices, including BYOD
  • Messages require no authentication to deliver
  • Most enterprise security tools do not inspect SMS content in real time

This creates a critical exposure point for enterprises trying to protect employees, customers, and brand trust. Most enterprise security stacks never see SMS.

 

Current Threat Statistics

  • 75% of organizations experienced smishing attacks in 2023
  • $470 million lost to SMS scams in 2024 – 5x increase from 2020
  • 140% increase in smishing attacks in 2023
  • 147 million fraudulent texts sent daily worldwide
  • 79% of organizations report mobile phishing attempts
  • Political donation scams surge ahead of 2026 election cycle

 

How Attackers Intentionally Bypass Enterprise Security

Modern fraud campaigns are engineered to avoid enterprise defenses entirely.

Brian Krebs (Krebs on Security) documents how attackers deliberately shift to SMS and other direct communication channels because they fall outside traditional enterprise visibility.

Common attacker behaviors include:

  • Brand impersonation via SMS to exploit trust
  • Targeting customers rather than employees
  • Avoiding monitored corporate infrastructure
    Operating at an industrial scale using automation and AI

The takeaway is simple:
Attackers go where enterprise security tools aren’t.

Most enterprise security stacks never see SMS.
Most enterprise security stacks never see SMS.

Why Existing SMS Security Approaches Fall Short

Most enterprises attempt to address SMS risk with tools that were never designed for enterprise SMS threat detection:

  • MDM and mobile security platforms don’t scale to customers and introduce privacy friction
  • Employees do not want company software on their private phone
  • Consumer spam-filtering apps lack centralized visibility, reporting, or control
  • Awareness training cannot keep pace with AI-generated, highly personalized SMS scams

These approaches focus on devices or user behavior rather than on real-time SMS fraud detection when a message is received.

The Business Impact of the SMS Security Gap

When SMS threats go undetected, enterprises face cascading consequences:

  • Direct financial loss and reimbursement costs
  • Incident response and investigation overhead
  • Regulatory exposure in high-trust industries
  • Long-term damage to customer confidence

Because many SMS attacks target customers rather than employees, incidents often surface after harm has occurred, when prevention is no longer possible.

 

Why SMS Scams Are So Effective

Text messages achieve a 98% open rate, compared to 6% for email. People respond to SMS within 90 seconds on average, compared to 90 minutes for email. This creates the perfect storm for cybercriminals to exploit trust and urgency.

What Effective SMS Threat Detection for Enterprises Requires

Closing the SMS security gap requires more than another internal security control. It requires a customer-deployable security layer designed to operate beyond the enterprise boundary, where SMS fraud actually occurs.

Effective SMS threat detection for enterprises must be built for a B2B2C distribution model, enabling organizations to extend real-time protection not only to employees, but directly to customers and end users — without apps, onboarding, or support overhead.

Effective enterprise SMS threat detection includes:

  • Sub-minute analysis of suspicious SMS messages at the moment they are received
  • AI-driven detection across message content, embedded links, sender behavior, and attack patterns
  • Zero-friction workflows that work on any device or carrier, requiring no installs, logins, or enrollment
  • Centralized visibility into attacks targeting both internal users and customers
  • Active disruption of malicious infrastructure, not just alerts or post-incident reporting
  • No customer support burden, allowing protection to scale to millions of end users

This model shifts protection earlier in the attack chain—before a click, reply, or payment—while allowing enterprises to protect the people attackers deliberately target beyond traditional security controls.

As fraud shifts from systems to people, security must shift from internal controls to customer-facing, B2B2C distribution models that extend protection wherever communication occurs.

Independent research shows scams are frequent and fast.
Investigative reporting shows attackers intentionally bypass enterprise controls.

Together, they validate a clear shift:

Enterprises need security controls that protect people, not just systems.

That’s why the enterprise messaging security platform is emerging as a new category and SMS threat detection for is the first and most urgent layer.

 

According to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, more than 70% of adults globally encountered a scam in the past year — underscoring how
pervasive fraud has become across trusted communication channels.

 

See Enterprise SMS Threat Detection in Action

SMS threats are accelerating, driven by AI and rich messaging. 

Waiting just increases your exposure.

CheckTxt is the first product built on the CheckTrust platform. It delivers real-time SMS fraud detection through a zero-friction workflow that works on any device, with no app downloads, logins, or onboarding required. Customers simply forward a suspicious text or submit a screenshot and receive a clear fraud verdict in under 60 seconds. By stopping SMS scams at the moment people decide whether to trust a message, CheckTxt helps organizations prevent fraud, reduce customer harm, and protect brand trust. 

👉 Schedule a demo to see how enterprise-grade SMS threat detection and our messaging security platfrom works in real time and how easily it integrates with your existing security stack to close one of today’s most costly blind spots.

👉 See how CheckTxt works now
Send a screen shot or forward a suspicious text to [442-432-5898] for an instant fraud verdict.
No app. No login. Just forward.

 

Send a screenshot or forward a suspicious text to [442-432-5898] for an instant fraud verdict. No app. No login. Just forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SMS threat detection for enterprises?

What is SMS threat detection for enterprises? SMS threat detection for enterprises is the ability to identify and assess fraudulent or malicious text messages in real time. It focuses on detecting threats at the moment a message is received, before a recipient clicks a link, replies, or sends money — addressing a major blind spot in traditional enterprise security stacks. ​

Most enterprise security tools are designed to protect systems, networks, and email — not personal messaging channels. SMS messages are delivered directly to mobile devices, often outside managed environments, and are not inspected by email gateways, endpoint tools, or SOC monitoring platforms.

MDM and mobile security tools focus on managing devices, which introduces privacy concerns and does not scale to customers. Customer-facing SMS threat detection is message-centric rather than device-centric, allowing enterprises to extend protection to employees and customers without requiring software installation, enrollment, or ongoing support.

Attackers increasingly target people instead of systems, using SMS to bypass enterprise controls and exploit trust. As scams become faster and more sophisticated, enterprises need security controls that extend beyond internal infrastructure.

This shift is driving the emergence of messaging security platform as a distinct category, with SMS threat detection as the first and most urgent layer.


Sources & Further Reading