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Attackers appear as if they are from known and trusted organizations.
Cybercriminals use phishing attack to steal sensitive user information or infect devices through deception.
Thus, they steal valuable information or take control of online accounts or devices.
Phishing attacks are a serious threat because they can be very convincing, even to tech-savvy people.
How Dangerous is a Phishing Attack?
A phishing attack is a major security risk, whether targeting an individual or an organization.
Generally, a phishing attack may lead to reputation and financial losses for a company or individual.
Also, the attackers could take the web link down leading to outages and huge financial losses.
Another danger is losing the credibility and trust of customers, who may then move to a competitor.
Recent Phishing Attacks
Below are a some of the recent phishing attacks incidents.
Within two years, the fraudster sent several fake multi-million-dollar invoices resembling those from the supplier.
These included fake contracts and letters purportedly signed by Google and Facebook representatives.
By the time they discovered the scam, the two had paid over $100 million.
After getting an employees password through phishing, the attackers installed malicious ransomware software on the companys connection.
Initially, the pipeline paid $4.4 million for the decryption key.
Then, posing as colleagues, the attackers sent malicious email messages containing malware to the unsuspecting employees.
Spear Phishing
Spear phishingis an attack that targets a specific organization or person instead of random users.
As such, it requires some knowledge of the target organization or user.
Whaling Phishing
Whaling phishingis an attack similar to spear phishing but targets the companys executives.
Alternatively, the whaling phishers may trick the executives into revealing their logging credentials.
Vishing
Vishing is a technique in which perpetrators use phones to scam unsuspecting users.
The attackers pretend to be representatives from reputable organizations such as banks, telephone companies, etc.
During the call, they may trick you into providing sensitive information such as the mobile phone line pin.
They could also request that you send some money to a specific account.
Some criminals may use a hybrid approach.
In most cases, they design phishing messages that mimic legitimate emails from a trusted company.
Do you know 46.8% of emails are spam message?
Deceptive Phishing
Deceptive phishing involves perpetrators who impersonate a known and familiar email sender.
Fraudsters often some legitimate links and contacts in malicious emails.
As such, the email filters cannot block or flag the messages as spam.
Criminals trick users by asking them to change passwords, verify an account, make payments, etc.
Clone Phishing
In clone phishing, the fraudsters create an email address similar to the legitimate one.
They then email a user, who may share sensitive information with the criminals if not careful.
They might also masquerade as a vendor and request some payment details.
In this phishing, the perpetrator looks for their target victims through social media.
The fraudster then masquerades as a customer support official from the organization and offers to help the complainer.
At this point, the attacker tricks the victim into sharing login credentials or other sensitive data.
Besides the above, here are additional tips.
Enforcing a Strict Password Management Policy
Admins could establish and enforce strong password management policies.
In such cases, they should require strong passwords that users must change regularly.
Useenterprise password managerto store credentials.
Other multifactor methods include biometrics, badges, OTPs, Pins, and more.
Additionally, they should be discouraged from posting sensitive personal and company information on social media.
Implement Email Security Software
Install effectiveemail security softwareto detect and stop phishing scams and other threats.
Typical solutions include antivirus software, firewalls, spam filters, and more.
Additionally, the organization can install web filters to detect malicious websites and prevent employees from accessing them.
Dont Click Unknown Links
Users should avoid clicking on links or attachments from unfamiliar senders.
If in doubt, copy the domain name and search for it on the internet.
If its content does not correspond with the message, you should treat it suspiciously.
Although most phishing emails are marked as SPAM, some may pass the spam filter and appear genuine.
