Celery Trap: A Browser and Email-Based Extension for Proactive Phishing, Spearphishing, and Web Threat Detection

Abstract

Phishing and web-based attacks continue to exploit vulnerabilities in existing enterprise security solutions, despite advancements in detection technologies. While traditional tools can block the majority of phishing attempts, a small percentage still bypass these defenses, leading to major security incidents. Celery Trap offers a lightweight, browser-based and email client extension designed to enhance the detection of phishing, spearphishing, and web-based attacks. By analyzing email headers for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC compliance, and scanning web page backend code for malicious banners and popups, Celery Trap provides real-time protection against edge-case phishing attacks, drive-by downloads, and malicious redirects. This paper explores the design, implementation, and evaluation of Celery Trap, highlighting its ability to bridge the 1% failure gap in phishing protection.

Keywords: Phishing, Spear Phishing, Email Security, Web Security