What Are Phishing Attacks?
Phishing is a type of social engineering technique used to steal personal information of users, such as debit and credit card information. When hackers launch an attack using phishing and poses as a trusted person or organization to entice the victim to open the contents of an instant messaging, or text message.
If their victim clicks an untrusted link and clicks on it, malware is installed onto their computer. The malware blocks the computer’s memory or divulges sensitive information.
Hackers employ phishing attacks with the intention of gaining access to corporate or government networks. Phishing is a part of a bigger attack, such as the advanced persistent threat (APT) incident. In this scenario the cyber criminal eludes security boundaries and gain access to secure information.
5 Types Of Phishing Attacks
To safeguard your company from cybercriminals, you have to be familiar with the most common kinds of phishing attacks. Below are some of attacks that are phishing.
1. Spear Phishing
This phishing attack is targeted at an individual or a particular company. In order to launch this attack, the person who is responsible must have exclusive knowledge of the business, as well as their power structures.
A spear-phishing attack can occur as follows:
- The hacker discovers details about employees in the department for marketing and also accesses the most recent invoices for projects
- The perpetrator pretends to be a marketing director and forwards an invoice for the manager of project. The message’s content design, style, and logo are exactly the same as the standard company email template.
- A link included in the email takes you to a password-protected file that is an altered version of an invoice that was stolen.
- The project manager has to sign in in order to access the document. After login, the perpetrator takes the credentials of the project manager and gains access to sensitive areas of your company’s system.
Spear phishing can be a successful method of triggering the initial phase of a persistent threat.
2. Email Phishing Scams
Email Phishing is a game played by chance. The attacker can create hundreds of fake messages in order to steal important data or money from a tiny fraction of the victims who fall for the phishing scam.
The criminal will design fake messages that look and feel like real emails from a known business. The attacker will employ the same logos, signatures Phrasesing, typefaces, and phrasing and the messages appear legitimate.
The attacker may try to get their targets to take the required action by creating a feeling of urgency. For instance, an attacker might threaten to end the account within a specified timeframe. The threat can lead the victim to drop their guard and follow through with.
In addition, the links contained in email phishing scams look similar to their real counterparts. However, if you’re attentive, you may find a spelling error or sub-domains. The resemblance between the two addresses makes people less skeptical of the authenticity that the link is fake.
3. Whaling Attacks
The whaling attack is targeted at the most senior employees of your business. This includes the board officers, top executives and even celebrities. They are believed by their status to be able to access important and sensitive data more frequently than employees at a lower level.
The whaling attack begins via an email. The contents of the email induces urgency to entice the victim. In these types of attacks the perpetrator mimics the senior members of staff. Thus, these phishing techniques do not usually involve fake URLs or malicious URLs.
A typical example of whaling is fraudulent tax returns. Tax returns are sought-after by criminals as they can provide useful details about their target. This includes names as well as social security numbers as well as bank account information.
4. Clone Phishing
A clone-phishing attack occurs when hackers make an untrue duplicate of a recent email that you received, and then sends the message from a source that appears credible. The victim of clone phishing initially receives a genuine message from the company, and then receives the exact message shortly afterward.
The hacker replaces hyperlinks and attachments of the email in question with malicious attachments and links. The attacker also explains that they are resentful of the email due to problems with the attachments or links contained in the original email.
5. Smishing Attacks
A Smishing attack can also be known as SMS Phishing. This is when the attacker makes use of text messages to lure their victims. They are similar to email phishing scams in that the attacker sends fraudulent or spam messages that appear to come from authentic sources. The texts include malicious hyperlinks.
The hacker disguises the hyperlinks as offering to win prizes, or coupons codes. Because a lot of people enjoy giveaways and chances to win the chance to win, those who are victims of smishing attacks click on links, and they are directed to a fake website. These attacks are designed to take users’ personal information, such as login or financial details.
Phishing Protection
Cybercriminals take advantage of the weakness of the targets to launch attacks. Thus, the best method to guard yourself against attack by phishing is to follow secure ways of doing so. The rule of thumb is not to click on or open suspicious emails.
Additionally, make sure that all accounts are protected by secure passwords as well as 2-factor authentication. Furthermore, you should secure important files and do not divulge personal information to anyone who is not verified.
