As if cybersecurity was not an increasingly pressing problem in recent years, with the generalization of the work from home phenomenon, attacks seem to have multiplied. Deprived of some of the security solutions they enjoyed at the office, more and more employees have to face, sometimes on their own, the most dangerous cyber attacks. IT security for the company Yours really is no joke, as you will discover in the following lines.
The most common forms of cyber attacks are: phishing, exploit, malware and botnet. In today's article we will explain what phishing means, what a phishing email and attack look like, some examples and solutions against this type of cyber aggression. Avoiding risks remains one of the most important 5 reasons for IT outsourcing.
In this article you will find out:
There is no translation for phishing, because we cannot say that it is a form of online fishing, so we refer to this phenomenon as an attempt at identity theft. Categorized as a form of online fraud, phishing consists of using methods to manipulate the identity of either individuals or organizations, in order to obtain confidential, sensitive information or various material advantages.
This process uses social engineering techniques, i.e. psychological exploitation tactics, with victims practically revealing their authentication data themselves. The services most targeted by this type of attackers are online payment services, internet service providers, social networks, non-profit organizations, government websites or parcel services.
Preferred targets are credit card details or authentication information in various platforms. A minimization of these risks can be achieved especially by purchasing complete IT services.
The process of phishing is, unfortunately, alarmingly simple. In this method, the attacker impersonates a trusted source, such as a contact (colleague, manager), an authentication website or an online payment medium that the user is familiar with. The user is tricked into entering or submitting their data. The result is that the hackers will have access to your bank account, so they can make fraudulent purchases in your name and steal your identity.
Another method works by convincing the user to download harmful malware by opening various email attachments.
There are two types of phishing attacks, as follows. It is also worth mentioning that in recent years this type of email fraud has increased by over 400%.
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In this type of attack, a general message is crafted and distributed to a database full of email addresses. The hackers just have to wait to see who takes the bait, and that's where the fishing parallels begin.
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Also called spear phishing, this type of attack is specialized because it involves targeting only a specific person or persons, with the message being personalized using information about the targeted company or personal information about the target, including gathered from the victim's social networks. In this way, the message becomes much more credible, and the chances of success increase considerably.
Phishing attacks are extremely common, so especially if you work remotely, through cloud solutions, you need to familiarize yourself with some examples of this phenomenon.
Through the cloud, PDF documents can be uploaded to Google Drive, documents that include links to a phishing page. This type of page asks the user to log in with their organization's email or Office 365. When you choose one of the options, a pop-up window appears with the authentication page.
There are cases where cyber attackers send emails with malware that display a message on your screen informing you that your files have been encrypted and your access to them has been blocked. In order to recover them, you are asked for a sum of money. In reality, the files are not encrypted, the attacker is only counting on the shock suffered by the victim. Often, notifications of this kind seem to come from the so-called authorities, such as the Romanian police.
Another variant is where reputable websites are copied (becoming a phishing site) and trick users who cannot tell the difference between the real and the fake version. Often the copied sites are those of banks, convincing victims to enter their login details and/or card information.
There is also the variant of whaling, this type of phishing targeting particularly important individuals or organizations. The targets in this case are celebrities, politicians, wealthy families or CEOs of large companies.
Last but not least, phishing can also be done through SMS messages, hence the name SmiShing. Be very careful with the links in the messages!
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Even if you use a company that offers services IT consulting To protect your business, it's essential to be able to recognize a phishing email yourself. Here's what you need to be guided by:
The first step against phishing attacks is an educated user, who knows how to avoid the dangers and recognize this type of messages. Training on this topic and frequent warnings can be carried out at the company level.
Other preferred solutions are business email solutions that will help the company withstand these cyber attacks. Through such a solution, emails that reach employees are pre-validated and the reputation, history and behavior of the sender are checked. With the help of other complex artificial intelligence functionalities, additional measures can be installed that identify coordinated attacks on companies.
Also as a preventive measure, we mention simulating phishing attacks to understand user behavior in such a situation and what are the weaknesses that hackers could exploit.
Our team is ready to provide you with the most effective technological solutions against phishing. In addition, to help you familiarize yourself with the subject, we invite you to special courses on security training, designed specifically for employee education.
Depending on their level of knowledge, you can choose between the basic version, which is aimed at technology users, and the pro version, specially designed for IT specialists. Thanks to these courses, you will considerably reduce the risk of losing information and successfully protect your company's credibility both in front of customers and partners, as well as in front of employees.
If you want to know more about us and about the solutions we provide you, do not hesitate to contact us contact.