PhishGuard: A Rule-Based Email Phishing Detection System

This work presents "PhishGuard", a rule-based email phishing detection system designed to analyze Gmail messages in real time. The model examines email headers, body text, embedded URLs, and attachments using heuristic and domain-specific rules. A phishing risk score is generated based on suspicious features such as urgency keywords, mismatched domains, and harmful links. When the score exceeds a threshold, the system sends instant alerts via email and WhatsApp using the Twilio API. The proposed model is lightweight, transparent, and easy to integrate, offering a practical solution for enhancing email security. Experimental testing shows high detection accuracy with minimal false positives, making this system effective for individuals and scalable for future machine learning integration.