By Eddy Berry, Security Research Analyst, TraceSecurity
One of the most common forms of social engineering is phishing. This specialized attack has been in use for decades and has been the downfall of many businesses and companies. They are difficult to distinguish and can cause a lot of problems if employees aren’t expecting it. A powerful defense against this attack is security awareness, but there are plenty of other things that can be done as well.
Phishing is one of the leading causes of successful cyberattacks across the world. Using information that is found across the Internet, bad actors can impersonate a coworker, a friend, or even a loved one in order to get you to click a link that may link to a malicious website. At that point, there’s a possibility of your device or network being hacked.
Phishing is the most common form of social engineering that happens across the world. It is a form of cyberattack that is sent through email, intending to get the victim to click on a link or share personal or private information. Millions of phishing emails are sent every day and thousands of people fall victim to these emails.
There are a few steps that happen to create a phishing attack. First, a bad actor will gather what information they can across the Internet. Plenty of businesses have contact directories on their websites or through other means that are publicly available. Afterward, they will gather emails and send crafted messages that will have some sort of call to action.
These call to actions can range from asking for help or donations, gift cards, or even threatening the person on the other side. They will have a link to click or they will demand information from the victim. This can be account information, passwords, or even things like social security numbers. With this data, they can get further into the network and cause a lot of damage.
There are plenty of things that you can do to protect you and your network from phishing. One of the basic principles of any device, however, is this: no matter how needy or threatening a bad actor may seem, they don’t have the ability to do anything without your permission. Granting access is easy, but they can’t do it without your input.
With that in mind, there are a few other things that you can do as well.
One of the main things that can help prevent a successful phishing attack is security awareness training. Many third-party cybersecurity firms promote this training because it is most effective against the top reason cyberattacks succeed: humans. Unfortunately, employees are the most common factor when it comes to these incidents, but this is likely because of lack of knowledge or awareness.
With proper security awareness, many employees will be able to recognize phishing attempts when they happen. Businesses can elect to send fake phishing emails to see who among their employees is willing to click them or follow through. With this knowledge, certain options can be chosen to further train the employee, like videos or seminars that explain social engineering more thoroughly.
Most phishing emails will come from an unknown address or contact. They may even seem to come from a client or employee. Those things are all part of the phishing attack – as said above, much of the information the bad actor has obtained was found in public places. They will use everything they can to get you to click on a link or to give them special information, so always verify. Try not to reply to the suspected phishing attempt, though – the bad actor will likely be able to follow up. If they sent an email, be sure to give them a call or a text to make sure it is who they say they are.
A good practice is to hover over links before clicking them. This will tell you if the URL has been masked as something else. If the address is strange or something you’ve never heard of, it’s likely a phishing attempt. This goes hand-in-hand with verifying the email address as well. If the domain looks suspicious or if there is a different character in it, never interact with it. For example, an uppercase “i” and a lower case “L” look the same.
Updated If you have a company device, be it a PC, mobile phone, or laptop, there will likely be security measures installed on it. These policies will prevent many phishing emails from even showing up in your email inbox, but there are plenty of other defenses in these updates as well. The reason for these updates is usually because of security improvements or other various patches for vulnerabilities, so it’s a good idea to always update your device whenever requested. Never push it off for more than a day or so.
Phishing is one of the most common social engineering attack. Bad actors will use emails to impersonate employees, friends, loved ones, and even officials. It’s always a good idea to verify any of these claims through another form of contact, be it through a phone call or a text message. Never give out any personal information, passwords, or other access codes.
Security awareness training is one of the best ways to circumvent any social engineering attack. Not only would this include phishing, but these programs can include smishing, vishing, and even some onsite options like physical penetration tests and dumpster diving. It’s always beneficial to have some sort of training like this for any company, from the small local business to the multi-billion-dollar industries.
Connect with TraceSecurity to learn more.