It must have come to your notice that the number of cybercrimes based on social engineering techniques has surged in recent years. But, unfortunately, companies with robust security systems sometimes pay less heed to cybersecurity threats related to a human factor. Following are a few phishing attacks of which you need to be aware of. This article also talks about the excellent remediation tips that will make your way out of the attack.
What Is Phishing?
It is a kind of social engineering fraud. Fraudulent ones send mail on behalf of a service or a person close to a recipient to deceive. Such emails drive the users to enter their credentials, click on a link that installs malware, or render sensitive information that will facilitate the attacker’s process.
Presently, most of the phishing attacks in the world are aimed at companies, not a particular person. Sources say companies face 90% of security issues and data breaches because of phishing.
For an unprepared enterprise, phishing usually leads to severe financial and reputational losses along with decreased consumer trust.
Actual Phishing Simulation Examples
Bearing in mind the worth of a valuable picture, we should be aware of the two phishing attacks faced by large companies that deal with a wide range of private information.
Below are the two case studies conducted by us to curb our consumers and employees from becoming a victim of the attack.
Case 1. Phishing request to log in to an external system
Hackers got hold of several email addresses of their consumer’s financial department representatives and sent them phishing emails, with the business address. In the emails, they introduced a new financial reporting system and stated the need for urgent registration.
Guided by the instructions, the consumers often got carried away and ultimately ended up following the link to the portal fabricated explicitly by the attackers and logging in by using their corporate credentials.
Case 2. Phishing attack suggesting to fix technical problems.
Here, a duplicate copy was made of a corporate email sign-in page.
Then the emails were sent to employees entailing to reload mailbox storage as soon as possible by clicking on their link to reauthorize.
These attackers succeeded in acquiring 10% of the data from recipients who provided them the credentials.
Depending on the case studies of these “successful” results, we advised modifications to the consumer’s access management system, conducted training sessions for the employees, and pointed out the aspects to pay heed to when dealing with the incoming correspondence.
So, how to resist phishing?
I would delineate that cybercriminals meticulously prepare their attacks and go through information about a particular organization and its employees so that emails look authentic. For that, attackers hold by several customs:
- A sender of such a phishing email should pretend to be trustworthy.
- The email must have reliable facts.
- A request in the email tends to be logical and addresses a specific person or group.
In such circumstances, to successfully curb phishing attacks against your company, I encourage you to follow some well-proven recommendations below.
In addition to phishing simulation, anti-phishing measures for an organization shall comprise:
Introducing two-factor authorization
Two-factor authentication renders double security, where a user must show additional authentication evidence to obtain access, for instance, a one-time code messaged to a user’s cell phone by a sign-in system.
Stringent password policy
Avoid using one password for multiple apps.
Anti-phishing training for your employees.
Develop anti-phishing training to train your employees on how to identify phishing emails and where to report them.
For users:
Check the source from where you receive the mail. Some malicious emails may have outbound addresses resonating with popular or credible ones, but if you look at it closely, the mistakes of masking the fraud will come to your notice.
Do not follow any portal by a direct link in an email. Instead, find out whether the content of the mail is authentic or not. It can be done by correlating with the URL of the link. Even if the link seems to be genuine, it is preferable not to click the link. Instead, take the effort of typing the link in the line of address of your browser.
Lest there is an emergency, you may dial S for Security.
Attackers work subtly to sneak into your system. For example, they can gather your employees’ corporate data and personal data to make successful phishing attacks that lead to substantial damage to your enterprise by disclosing confidential information, blackmailing, data loss, and so on. Because of this, we at here always prioritize preventive measures over reactive measures in what concerns social engineering menaces. Therefore, feel free to book a call with us for a proficient social engineering assessment of your enterprise.
