Phishing attacks are being aimed at sensitive and confidential information such as usernames, passwords, credit card information, and network credentials.
Cyber attackers use social engineering to manipulate people into performing certain actionsas clicking on a malicious link or malware or revealing confidential information on purpose by acting as a normal individual or organization via messages or emails.
The goal is to trick the receiver into believing that the message contains something significant for them or something they needsuch as a request from their banks or an email from their co-workers at their company.
Phishing scams can also use phone calls, text messages, and social media to trick victims into sharing sensitive information.Phishing is one of the most well-known types of cyberattacks, dating back to the 1990s, with increasingly manipulating phishing messages and techniques.
Both people and organizations can be targeted in phishing attacks. Virtually any type of personal or corporate data can be necessary for committing fraud or sneaking into an organization’s network.
How to Prevent Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks can be prevented in many ways to protect your personal data, your business, and information of your employees. Let's take a look at these ways:
Phishing Tests and Simulations
One way to prevent your organization from phishing attacks is user training. Training should include all employees. It’s important to teach them how to recognize a phishing email and what to do if they receive one. Simulation exercises are also important to observe how your employees respond to a staged phishing attack.
The following scenarios may show that an email is a phishing attempt:
Emails that include generic openings
such as “Hello Bank X Customer” instead of the recipient’s name
Emails that request personal information
Most legitimate companies do not send emails that ask their customers to share their identity or other personal information by clicking on a link or website. This is a security measure that helps protect consumers and helps customers distinguish dishonest emails from legitimate ones.
Emails that request an immediate response
Most phishing emails try to create a sense of urgency, trying to convince recipients that their account has been compromised or that they will lose access to important information if they don’t act immediately.
Emails with fake links
Does a link in the message lead to the page it claims to be? Don’t try to find out; instead, hover over the link and look to verify its authenticity. Also, look for URLs that start with HTTPS. The “S” indicates that a website uses encryption to protect users’ page requests.
User Training
One way to prevent these attacks is to educate your employees regarding phishing attacks and what they can do about it. Once the phishing tests are run, the trainings can be started with the employees that fail them.
This can create an interactive as well as a protected work environment.
Difference Between Phishing and Malware
Cyber attacks may appear in different forms. The wide-spread attacks of Malware, Phishing, and Ransomware are the three of these forms that can impact individual users and large companies. Malware is any software aims to gain unauthorized access to IT databasesso as to steal data, damage system services or IT networks in various way. Phishing is online pitfalls for users to share private and secured information using tricky or misleading strategies.
What are Phishing and Vishing?
Phishing is an attempt to obtain personal or financial information, usually via email or a website, by pretending to be from a legitimate source. This information may include your date of birth, login details, account numbers, credit card details, PIN codes, and similar information. Vishing is an attempt to obtain this information over the phone.
How Can I Detect Phishing/Vishing?
You should always be wary of phone calls and messages asking for personal or financial information,
or messages directing you to a web page asking for this information. Always ask yourself if you are contacted by a seemingly trustworthy entity, whether this could be a scam.
How Can I protect Myself from Phishing Attacks?
- Be cautious. Legitimate websites never send emails to our customers asking for verification of personal or security information. They never ask you to update or verify your information over the phone, especially your password. Your login details are personal to you and should not be shared with anyone else. Be suspicious of vague addresses like “Dear Valued Customer”; Trustworthy sites will always address you by name. Think before you click, and pay close attention to login screens. Cybercriminals may use links in email messages, internet ads, and tweets to direct you to a fake site where they can steal your login information. Only log in if you are sure that you have reached the real site directly.
- Is the site’s name spelled correctly? Criminals often set up sites with slightly different names, such as with one or two letters missing or changed.
- Does the address start with https:// (for the secure part of the site)? The “s” here represents the word “secure”, meaning secure, and means that identity theft and tampering are prevented, and that data is encrypted. If you only see “http” (without the “s”), your internet connection is not secure. Make sure the security lock icon (for the secure part of the site) is visible on your screen. This icon should be visible on every page from the moment you log in until you log out.
- Make sure your device is up to date and has working security software installed. In particular:
- Make sure your device is well protected. Use up-to-date antivirus and anti-malware software, as well as a firewall. Check that they are automatically activated every time you turn on your device.
- Regularly check for any pending updates for your operating system and software (applications, virus scanners, browsers and browser plug-ins) and install them if any are available.
- Do not install any software (applications, virus scanners, browsers and browser plug-ins) from an unknown source.
- Make sure your wireless connection is secure.
- Make sure your plug-ins (Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, Java) are up to date and only sourced from sites you trust.
- Never give out personal or financial information to a suspicious contact.
- Do not fill out forms or sign-up screens that links in these messages direct you to.
- Be careful not to use suggestions in suspicious emails such as replying to the email or clicking on links in the email. Also, be careful when calling us on the phone after you suspect a vishing attempt – wait a few minutes before calling back, as the scammer may have kept the line open.
It might feel like a lot at first but don't worry, we're here to help you. With Vigilainte you can run your phishing tests and educate your employees with ease. Make sure to check out our blog for more information abouıt phishing, cybersecurity, and more!