You’ve likely heard the term phishing used in association with cybercrime. That’s because countless companies and individuals have suffered from this attack.
To improve security, you should first understand what phishing means and how it works. Once that’s clear, you should learn how to protect yourself from phishing and its different types.
We will answer all of your phishing questions in this article, so read on to learn more.
What Is Phishing?
We can define phishing as a social engineering attack that is frequently used to obtain user information such as credentials and bank account details. It happens when an attacker poses as someone trustworthy and tricks you into opening their email, message, or SMS.
Victims are tricked into opening a malicious link, which can result in malware infections, disclosure of sensitive information, and so on. Phishing attacks can have disastrous consequences, as individuals are often affected by illicit purchases and identity theft.
Phishing is sometimes even used as part of a bigger attack to get access to business or government networks. Employees are compromised in this scenario in order to circumvent security perimeters, inject malware in a sensitive place, or get unrestricted access to data.
As you can imagine, organizations that suffer from such an attack often experience serious financial losses as well as a loss of reputation and consumer trust. Depending on the scale, phishing could turn into a major disaster from which a company will struggle to recover.
Now that you know what phishing is – let’s see how it works.
How Does Phishing Work?
In most cases, you will receive an email that appears to be from a legitimate entity with which you are familiar and do business, such as your bank. In some situations, the email may seem to originate from a government agency, such as a federal financial institution regulatory agency.
The email will most likely notify you about a critical issue that requires your urgent attention. It might say things like “Action needed” or “There’s an issue with your account” The email will then prompt you to click a link to the institution’s website.
In a phishing scam, you may be routed to a malicious website that appears to be the actual thing. At times, it could even be an official company website. In such instances, a pop-up window will appear rapidly to collect your financial details.
In either case, you could be asked to update account credentials or provide verification information, such as your social security number, password, or the info you use to confirm your identity when speaking with a real financial institution.
Phishing Types
There’s certainly no lack of variety in available phishing methods that attackers use to exploit people and companies nowadays. We will cover eight popular ones below.
Email Phishing
Email is the most commonly used phishing media. Scammers register fake domains that mimic legitimate businesses and send hundreds of queries to their targets.
Fake domain names frequently contain character substitutions, such as combining “r” and “n” to get “rn” instead of “m.” They might also use the name of a legitimate company in the local part of an email address, with the sender’s name appearing in the inbox (e.g., sender@organization.com).
There are several methods for detecting phishing emails, but users should always check their email addresses when a message asks them to download an attachment or click a link.
Spear Phishing
Spear phishing is similar to other types of phishing attacks in that it uses communications from a supposedly trustworthy source to dupe victims. A spear phishing attack, on the other hand, targets a specific individual or group rather than sending generic communications to a large number of users in the hope that one will fall for the deception.
When the goal is very lofty, it is referred to as whale phishing or whaling. Whale phishing targets high-value persons such as the CEO, whereas standard spear phishing targets IT or management team members. Whale phishing attackers frequently mimic senior executives or representatives of other companies in order to persuade the target to reveal sensitive and valuable information.
Successful whaling attacks require the attackers to go above and beyond to entice the whale. When the attackers are successful, they can utilize the target’s authorization to trick workers and other high-value targets without raising suspicion.
Clone Phishing
It might not be as complex as spear phishing, but clone phishing attempts are nevertheless quite successful.
All key phishing tenants are included in this attack approach. The difference is that the attacker duplicates legitimate emails previously sent by trustworthy entities rather than impersonating an individual or business to make a fake request.
The attacker then manipulates the link, replacing the original email’s link with a new link that takes victims to a phony website that looks legitimate. Users enter their credentials, making them available to the attacker.
HTTPS Phishing
To improve security, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) was upgraded to HTTPS. Today, most users believe it’s always safe to click on HTTPS links. Attackers, on the other hand, can use HTTPS to make their links appear legitimate and so boost the success of their phishing attacks.
Smishing
In smishing (SMS) and vishing (call) attacks, mobile phones replace email.
Smishing occurs when attackers send text messages with fraudulent content, similar to a phishing email. Vishing, on the other hand, involves a phone call in which the attacker speaks directly to his target.
Let’s illustrate this with an example. The attacker poses as a fraud investigator for a bank or credit card business. He notifies the victims of an account breach and requests that they authenticate their identity by supplying credit card information.
Evil Twin Phishing
Fake WiFi stations that appear legitimate but can intercept sensitive data in transit are frequently used in evil twin attacks. When someone utilizes a fake hotspot, malicious actors can eavesdrop or perform man-in-the-middle attacks. In this way, data transferred across the connection can easily be stolen and exploited by attackers.
Pop-up Phishing
Although most people have pop-up blockers installed, pop-up phishing remains problematic. Malicious actors may embed malicious code in little alerts that visitors see when accessing a website.
A relatively new pop-up phishing approach is to leverage the victim’s web browser’s notifications. When you try to access the website, the browser shows a message indicating that the website wishes to display notifications. By accepting it, you authorize malware.
Pharming
Pharming is a more sophisticated form of phishing that’s difficult to detect. Attackers use the DNS system, which translates domains to IP addresses. When consumers enter the domain of the target website, DNS redirects them to another IP address of a malicious website that appears legitimate.
Phishing Prevention
Now that you know about different phishing types, you’re likely wondering how to prevent phishing attacks. Here are the ten steps you can follow to prevent phishing attempts from damaging you or your company.
Keep Browsers Updated
Browser updates are more than simply a waste of your time. They are part of security protocols released in response to network vulnerabilities. These are the entry points for hackers into the system, and updates serve to patch them up. So, whenever they become available, do not hesitate to install them.
Be Mindful of Links
Many individuals mechanically scan their emails, clicking links without even reading the message. That way, many phishing emails get past the protection and checks offered by your email client.
As a result, a cleverly designed email may end up in your inbox rather than the spam folder. So before clicking on any included links, you should always carefully review the material.
Avoid Pop-Ups
Pop-ups are already unpleasant, but these days they are also being used to carry out phishing attempts. You’re on the right track if you already use a pop-up blocker. If one does find its way onto your displays, simply close it.
Inspect Accounts
It may be tough with the amount of online platforms available nowadays, but try to log in to your site accounts as frequently as possible. Leaving your account unattended for an extended period of time makes it an easy target for hackers.
Remember to also update your passwords on a regular basis and avoid using the same combination on different sites. Finally, review your account statements on a regular basis. We’ve already seen that even bank-level security is vulnerable to phishing scams.
Use Anti-Phishing Toolbars
These toolbars are intended to do fast checks on websites that you visit. It compares them to known phishing sites and informs you immediately if harmful behavior is detected. You can add the toolbar to your internet browser to increase security. It’s also completely free.
Check the SSL
Before acting on an email, ensure that the URL is legitimate and begins with HTTPS. Keep an eye out for the closed lock icon near the address bar. You should avoid viewing the site if any of these are missing.
Use a Firewall
Firewalls act as a barrier between your computer and unauthorized third-party access. Hackers will have a difficult time breaking into your system or network if you use a firewall.
Install an Antivirus
While firewalls prevent harmful data from entering your network, antivirus software checks files that enter through your network connection. It is highly suggested that you install antivirus software on all of your devices to protect them from vulnerabilities that hackers are known to exploit.
Delete the Email
Phishing emails that have not been manually sorted into your spam folder should be deleted from your inbox right away. It is best to delete the email without opening it because some email clients allow scripting, which can unleash a virus just by opening the message.
Blocking the sender ensures that you will no longer get such false alerts. If your service provider supports it, you can add the sender’s email domain to a prohibited list. This way, you won’t come across such emails by accident and click on them.
Stop Using Public WiFi
It is generally not recommended to conduct sensitive online transactions on public networks. Email exchange over such networks is typically unencrypted, making them a prime target for hackers. If the evil twin scenario occurs, your passwords and any saved financial information may be exposed.
When you are outside of a secure WI-FI range, it is safer to utilize your mobile network. If you must use a public network, you should set up a VPN to safeguard your device from outside interference.
Phishing Signs
Wondering if that email you just received is a phishing attempt? It’s best not to guess, so check out our list of six phishing signs to watch out for.
Time Pressure
One strategy is using urgency to encourage or demand action. Attackers hope that by reading the email in a hurry, people will not carefully observe the content and, in turn, miss inconsistencies.
Unusual Domains
Look for inconsistent email addresses and domain names to identify probable phishing attacks. Checking a previous correspondence that matches the sender’s email address, for example, is a smart idea.
To see the actual link destination, recipients should always linger over a link in an email before opening it. If the email appears to be from Amazon, but the domain of the email does not include amazon.com, it is a phishing email.
Special Requests
If you are required to perform non-standard tasks in response to an email, this could signal that the email is malicious. For example, if an email purports to be from a specific department and requests software installation, but these activities are typically handled centrally in your firm, the email is most likely malicious.
Request for Sensitive Information
In a lot of phishing emails, attackers establish malicious login pages linked to official-looking emails. A login form or a request for bank account information is usually included on the malicious login page. The recipient should not enter login information or open the link if the email is unexpected. As a precaution, receivers should go to the website that they believe is the source of the email.
Bad Grammar
Other symptoms of phishing emails include misspellings and grammatical errors. For incoming emails, most businesses have spell-checking enabled in their email clients. As a result, emails containing spelling or grammatical problems should be treated with caution, as they may not have come from the claimed source.
Writing Style
A communication written in unsuitable language or tone is an immediate indication of phishing. If a coworker seems unduly casual or a friend starts using formal language, this should raise a red flag. Recipients of the communication should then look for any other signs of a phishing message.
Wrapping Up
Alright, you should now have a clear picture of what phishing is and how it works. Reading about different phishing types and signs will help you recognize an attack before it’s too late.
If you follow our phishing prevention checklist, you can greatly reduce the chance of falling victim to this attack. So why not bookmark this article and share it with someone you want to keep safe?
