Companies relying on generic, blanket security products such as out of the box software may find it most difficult to protect against customised attacks. Software products are generally unable to identify where a threat has come from, and do not have a team of experts acting as an early warning system. A proactive managed service provider has these capabilities, precisely because email traffic must pass through its systems – allowing for analysis of unusual traffic patterns, email origin and new, previously unseen vulnerabilities and malicious code. The perpetrators of email security attacks are learning to adapt their methods according to their target, and are making it personal. To effectively combat this breed of threat, organisations must do the same.