OFF-The-Hook: A Tool to Detect Zero-Font and Traditional Phishing Attacks in Real Time
Nazar Abbas Saqib, Zahrah Ali AlMuraihel, Reema Zaki AlMustafa, Farah Amer AlRuwaili, Jana Mohammed AlQahtani, Amal A. Alahmadi, Deemah A. Alqahtani, Saad Abdulrahman Alharthi, Sghaier R. Chabani, Duaa Alkubaisy · Applied System Innovation · 2025
Phishing attacks continue to pose serious challenges to cybersecurity, with attackers constantly refining their methods to bypass detection systems. One particularly evasive technique is Zero-Font phishing, which involves the insertion of invisible or zero-sized characters into email content to deceive both users and traditional email filters. Because these characters are not visible to human readers but still processed by email systems, they can be used to evade detection by traditional email filters, obscuring malicious intent in ways that bypass basic content inspection. This study introduces a proactive phishing detection tool capable of identifying both traditional and Zero-Font phishing attempts. The proposed tool leverages a multi-layered security framework, combining structural inspection and machine learning-based classification to detect both traditional and Zero-Font phishing attempts. At its core, the system incorporates an advanced machine learning model trained on a well-established dataset comprising both phishing and legitimate emails. The model alone achieves an accuracy rate of up to 98.8%, contributing significantly to the overall effectiveness of the tool. This hybrid approach enhances the system’s robustness and detection accuracy across diverse phishing scenarios. The findings underscore the importance of multi-faceted detection mechanisms and contribute to the development of more resilient defenses in the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats.