With AI-powered scams and hyper-realistic phishing emails on the rise, one of the oldest cybersecurity habits is still one of the most effective: hovering over links before you click.
When you place your cursor over a link, your browser reveals the true destination URL — not just the text displayed in the message or on the website. Cybercriminals rely on the fact that most people don’t check this. They disguise malicious links to look like trusted brands, vendors or even internal tools your team uses every day. A link that appears to go to Microsoft, DocuSign, or your bank could actually redirect to a fake site built to steal login credentials or quietly install malware.
This matters even more in 2026. Modern phishing campaigns use AI to copy writing styles, company branding and real-world business scenarios — invoices, shipping notices, shared documents and password resets. Many messages are personalized using public information from LinkedIn or company websites, making them harder to spot at a glance. Visual cues like poor grammar or strange formatting are no longer reliable warning signs.
Hovering over a link takes one second, but it can instantly expose red flags such as misspelled domains, extra characters, shortened URLs or unfamiliar web addresses. It gives users a quick reality check before any damage is done.
But, not everything that is unusual-looking is malicious.
It’s also important to understand that not all unusual-looking links are malicious. Many legitimate businesses (including us) use marketing and customer communication platforms that automatically rewrite URLs for tracking purposes. This allows us to see whether an email was delivered, opened or if a link was clicked — helping us improve communication and avoid sending irrelevant or excessive messages.
Because of this, when you hover over a link in one of our emails, you may see a tracking domain instead of the final destination right away. That doesn’t mean the link is unsafe. The key difference is context and consistency: our emails will align with your relationship with us, use our normal branding and tone and never ask for sensitive information like passwords or payment details via a link.
This makes hovering even more valuable, not less. It helps you distinguish between legitimate tracking links from trusted vendors and suspicious domains designed to impersonate them. When in doubt, it’s always smart to pause and contact the sender directly through a known phone number or website instead of clicking.
There’s More To A Complete Security Strategy
But, hovering alone doesn’t cut it though. It should be paired with multi-factor authentication, endpoint protection, email filtering and regular security awareness training. But it remains one of the simplest and most cost-effective habits any organization can adopt.
In a world of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, small actions still matter. Sometimes the strongest layer of defense isn’t new technology — it’s paying attention before you click.
