Phishing represents a form of a cybersecurity attack in which someone sends messages designed to manipulate the receiver of the messages into installing a dangerous file, clicking a malicious link, or revealing highly sensitive information such as a Social Security number. Phishing is considered a type of social engineering attack because it leads to a victim trusting the actions of someone who has bad intentions.
What Are the 3 Most Common Forms of Phishing Attacks?
Phishing attacks have turned much more sophisticated with the advance of technology.
General Emails
The most common form of phishing involves sending general emails. An attacker registers fake domains for websites that appear to belong to real businesses and organizations. Phishing emails frequently use language that expresses a sense of urgency similar to a call to action made by a business to buy a product or service.
Spear Phishing
As a much more targeted form of phishing, spear phishing involves sending malicious emails to specific victims. The person spear phishing has gathered important information, such as the name, job title, and contact information of a victim. In this case, the attacker targets the victim rather than sending a mass email to a group of potential victims.
Whaling
Whaling attacks target victims in positions of power, such as senior managers of a corporation. Although the goal remains the same for whaling as it does for other types of phishing attacks, the techniques used to get victims to let their guards down are more subtle. Whaling emails represent highly personal messages that use the information of a person in power.
How Can Your Organization Prevent Phishing Attacks?
Whether your organization is a business, nonprofit organization, or government agency, the first step toward preventing phishing attacks involves creating a team of IT professionals that specialize in thwarting the bad intentions of phishing attackers. The team of IT professionals that you recruit might implement one or more of the following solutions to protect your organization against a financially devastating phishing attack.
Educate Employees
Your team members must understand the signs of a phishing attack, as well as how to act after receiving a potentially malicious email. The cyber security team you have assembled will typically conduct regularly scheduled meetings or offer trainings with different departments to teach the techniques that thwart phishing attacks.
Develop Email Security Protections
The team of cybersecurity professionals that are responsible for preventing phishing attacks can also implement email filtering solutions that help protect against the installation of malware and other types of dangerous viruses. Email security protections can include the detection of malicious links and the common types of languages used to indicate a potential phishing attack.
Monitor Endpoints
Because of the rapid rise in the popularity of cloud services, several new endpoints might not receive full protection against phishing attacks. If you run your IT solutions from the cloud, your cybersecurity team should monitor endpoints for the development of threats, as well as respond quickly to restore any compromised devices.
Simulate Phishing Attacks
Running different simulations of phishing attacks can demonstrate where your cybersecurity system is strong, as well as where in the system a phishing attack can harm your organization. Completing simulated phishing attacks can account for new technologies that develop to help attackers enter vulnerable IT systems.
Restrict User Access
Attackers design phishing techniques to deceive humans, with user accounts representing an attractive target for criminals. Limiting access to sensitive accounts can prevent the theft of proprietary information. Only allow access to highly sensitive information to the employees that need to access the information.
The Bottom Line
Be proactive and start protecting your most sensitive information against phishing attacks.
There for You: Acadia Insurance
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Acadia is pleased to share this material for the benefit of its customers. Please note, however, that nothing herein should be construed as either legal advice or the provision of professional consulting services. This material is for informational purposes only, and while reasonable care has been utilized in compiling this information, no warranty or representation is made as to accuracy or completeness. Recipients of this material must utilize their own judgment in implementing sound risk management practices and procedures.
