What is phishing?
Phishing is a type of cyber attack where criminals send fraudulent emails or texts, or copy the website of a legitimate organization, in order to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information such as passwords, account numbers, or credit card details. The criminals then use this information to steal money or identities or gain access to private data.
Phishing is an extremely common cyberthreat – according to the 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, phishing was involved in 36% of breaches in 2021. As phishing techniques become more advanced, it’s crucial that individuals and organizations understand how to recognize and defend against phishing attempts.
How do phishers trick people?
Phishers use a variety of deceptive techniques to make their communications seem authentic:
– They spoof the email address, website URL, or phone number so it appears to come from a legitimate organization like a bank, credit card company, or government agency.
– They copy logos, formatting, writing style, and messaging from the real organization to make emails and websites look authentic.
– They create a false sense of urgency, demanding immediate action like updating account information to avoid account suspension. This pressures the victim to act before scrutinizing the message.
– They ask potential victims to click links or download attachments containing malware that can infect computers and steal data.
– They leverage current events, tragedies, or breaking news to add legitimacy to their scam and trick users into letting their guard down.
Who is vulnerable to phishing?
Anyone who uses email, social media, texts, or the internet could encounter a phishing scam at some point. However, some individuals and groups tend to be targeted more frequently, including:
– Senior citizens: Scammers exploit technical inexperience and prey on fears about account security.
– Employees at large organizations: Mass phishing emails are sent hoping that busy, distracted workers will fall for them.
– Public sector/government workers: Phishers impersonate government agencies to steal data or spread malware.
– Business executives and management: By impersonating high-level colleagues, scammers try to trick them into unauthorized money transfers.
– Customers of well-known brands: Scammers copy websites or create fake customer support numbers to steal login credentials.
What are the risks of phishing?
Falling for a phishing scam puts users and organizations at major risk in multiple ways:
– **Financial loss**: Bank account funds, retirement savings, and other assets can be stolen if phishers gain login credentials or get victims to authorize fraudulent transfers.
– **Malware infections**: Clicking phishing links/attachments downloads malware like viruses, spyware, keyloggers, and ransomware onto devices. This allows cybercriminals to steal data, lock files for ransom, or take remote control.
– **Account/identity theft**: Phishers stealing login information enables them to hijack accounts, commit fraud, and steal identities.
– **Data breaches**: Phishers ultimately aim to breach networks and steal bulk data like customer records, trade secrets, intellectual property, and more. This causes immense financial and reputational damage.
– **Regulatory penalties**: Organizations failing to protect against phishing face fines, lawsuits, and other penalties for enabling data breaches.
What are the best practices individuals can take to avoid phishing?
End users are the first line of defense against phishing. By learning to recognize and avoid phishing attempts, individuals can protect themselves and reduce risk for organizations. Best practices include:
– **Hover over hyperlinks** to check the actual destination URL instead of clicking directly. See if the organization name matches the link text.
– **Check for spelling errors** and grammatical mistakes uncharacteristic of legitimate businesses.
– **Verify the sender’s email address** to ensure it matches the organization. Watch for spoofed domains.
– **Never enter login credentials** from an embedded link. Navigate independently to the official website.
– **Use secondary authentication** like SMS codes when available.
– **Do not trust caller ID** for urgent inbound calls requesting sensitive data. Hang up and call back using an official number.
– **Avoid opening attachments** in unsolicited emails. Be wary even if from a contact whose account may be compromised. Instead, contact them directly.
– **Slow down**: Ignore urgency cues designed to bypass scrutiny. Instead take time to verify legitimacy outside the email.
– **When in doubt, report** suspicious emails to IT security teams for investigation. Deleting scam emails also helps protect others.
Safe web browsing habits
– **Beware of sponsored links** that appear at the top of search results. Scammers pay for sponsored ads to seem legitimate.
– **Check site security** for the padlock and “https” in the URL, indicating encryption. This prevents data intercepted in transit.
– **Update browsers and systems** to fix security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by phishers.
– **Use strong unique passwords** and turn on multi-factor authentication when available to prevent credential theft.
– **Avoid public/shared computers** for accessing sensitive accounts. The devices may be infected with keyloggers.
Safe social media habits
– **Do not friend strangers** who may be impersonating someone you know or sending malicious links.
– **Scrutinize attachments/links** in messages, even from friends. Accounts may be compromised.
– **Beware of fake offers**, like gift cards or prizes for taking surveys, that aim to steal data and passwords.
– **Turn off location sharing** that could enable physical threats if accounts are compromised.
– **Log out of accounts** after use, especially on shared devices, to prevent access by others.
What technical controls can organizations implement?
While individuals should remain vigilant, organizations bear significant responsibility to implement technical controls and policies to protect against phishing, including:
Email security
– **Install DMARC authentication** to block spoofed domains from delivering phishing emails mimicking your domain.
– **Filter executable attachments** like .exe and .zip files frequently used to deliver malware.
– **Block dangerous file types** like .js, .vbs, and .scr that contain malicious scripts.
– **Scan attachments and links with antivirus** to detect known threats. Use sandboxing to test unknown files.
– **Flag external emails** so staff recognize potentially risky unsolicited messages.
– **Block high-risk countries** known for phishing like North Korea, Nigeria, and Eastern European nations .
– **Train AI tools** on past phishing emails so it recognizes and filters future phishing attempts.
Web security
– **Enable HTTPS** across websites and redirect HTTP traffic for encryption.
– **Install a web application firewall (WAF)** to filter malicious inputs like scripts and SQL injection commonly used in phishing.
– **Immediately patch vulnerabilities** in content management systems like WordPress that could enable website takeovers.
– **Monitor typosquatting** where phishers register misspelled domains hoping victims will mistype your brand name.
– **Acquire brand typosquatting domains** so they don’t fall into the wrong hands. Redirect them to your legitimate site.
Access management
– **Enforce password complexity rules** requiring minimum length, special characters, numbers, changed frequently etc.
– **Implement MFA** using SMS codes, biometric authentication, physical tokens, or authenticator apps to prevent stolen password access.
– **Audit user authorizations** frequently and limit access to only necessary data to reduce impact if accounts are compromised.
– **Monitor logins** for signs of unauthorized access like unfamiliar locations or times. Alert on anomalies.
– **Enable session timeouts** that log users out after a period of inactivity to prevent indefinite access.
User education
– **Train staff extensively** on how to identify and avoid phishing attempts through awareness campaigns, simulations, and mandatory cybersecurity training.
– **Warn against oversharing** personal information online that could help phishers research targets or guess security answers/passwords.
– **Encourage reporting phishing attempts** to infosec teams even if avoided, so they can trace origins and warn others.
– **Reward reporting phishing** with prizes or recognition to improve participation.
– **Simulate phishing attempts** on staff to identify susceptible users needing additional coaching. Track success over time.
Should you pay a ransom demanded by phishers?
If you or your organization fall victim to a phishing attack that infects systems with ransomware, you face the dilemma of whether or not to pay the ransom to regain access to encrypted data. Here are important considerations:
Arguments for paying:
– It may be the only way to regain access quickly if backups are inadequate. This avoids business disruption.
– The cost may be less than rebuilding systems and data from scratch.
– Cooperating increases the chances that the attackers provide working keys.
Arguments against paying:
– There is no guarantee you will get working keys after payment. Attackers could demand more money.
– It makes you a target for future attacks as attackers know you’ll pay.
– The funds support criminal enterprises to launch more attacks.
– It violates laws prohibiting support to criminal acts.
Recommended approach:
– Have backups offline so you can restore data without paying. Test backups regularly.
– Hire specialists to negotiate and potentially pay ransom on your behalf. Keep the organization anonymity.
– Report the attack to law enforcement and seek options. FBI may have keys.
– Record everything about the attack which may provide leads on the perpetrators.
– Learn from the breach to enhance defenses against future attacks.
Paying the ransom should be an absolute last resort rather than the first reaction. With good backups and restoration processes, organizations can often recover from attacks without funding criminal enterprises.
How can individuals recover from identity theft following a phishing scam?
If you have your identity stolen due to falling for a phishing scam, here are important steps to reclaim your identity:
– **Place a fraud alert** on your credit reports to signal lenders to scrutinize applications. This makes it harder for criminals to open new fraudulent accounts.
– **Reset all account passwords** for banks, credit cards, utilities, loans etc. Make the new passwords strong and unique for each account. Enable two-factor authentication wherever possible.
– **Notify your bank** and credit card companies of the breach. Closely monitor statements for signs of unauthorized transactions.
– **Report identity theft** to the FTC to initiate an investigation and recovery plan. File a police report on the theft.
– **Dispute any fraudulent charges** and close compromised accounts. Reopen them with new account numbers.
– **Review credit reports** and initiate disputes for any unknown or unauthorized accounts opened in your name.
– **Consider credit freezes** with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to block access to your credit reports unless you authorize it. This prevents criminals from opening new credit accounts.
– **Change online account security questions and answers** that may have been exposed in the phishing attack. Avoid using security questions that can be easily researched.
– **Be vigilant** about reviewing bank statements, credit reports, and account activity for new signs of fraud. Some of your data may still be circulating on the dark web.
– **Sign up for credit monitoring** to be alerted about suspicious inquiries and new accounts being opened.
Keep diligent records of your efforts to report the fraud and dispute charges. Recovery can be a long process. If errors persist on credit reports, you may need to sue the CRAs.
How can small businesses recover after a phishing-enabled data breach?
For a small business victimized by a data breach linked to a phishing attack, follow these steps to minimize the damage:
– **Contain the breach** by isolating compromised systems to prevent further data loss until they can be examined. Initiate password resets.
– **Notify affected customers** in accordance with breach notification laws. Provide credit monitoring and ID theft protection.
– **Notify insurers** of the breach and anticipated costs. Insurers may provide legal guidance and cover costs like customer notification and monitoring.
– **Hire forensic experts** to determine the full scope of data loss so you understand what criminals accessed and if systems are still compromised.
– **Notify law enforcement** and regulators in accordance with data breach notification laws. Cooperate fully with investigations.
– **Assess legal exposure** under privacy laws and regulations like HIPAA and GDPR. Expect fines, lawsuits, legal fees and settlement costs.
– **Initiate PR/crisis management** to communicate the breach to customers, media and the public. Be transparent about response efforts.
– **Offer remedies** like discounts or free services to retain customer trust after the breach.
– **Remove phishing weaknesses** by implementing new email filters, stronger passwords, employee education etc. to prevent repeat attacks.
– **Consult experts** like the SBA and SCORE for guidance on recovering your business operations and reputation after the cyber attack.
With quick, thorough action after a breach, small businesses can limit the damage, retain more customers, and position themselves to eventually emerge stronger.
Conclusion
Phishing presents one of the most dangerous cybersecurity threats to individuals and organizations today. However, with training to recognize phishing techniques, implementation of technical controls like email authentication, and best practices like avoiding unsolicited links and attachments, users and businesses can defend themselves from potentially costly phishing attacks. Developing a mindset of always verifying legitimacy before providing sensitive information can neutralize the effectiveness of even highly deceptive phishing scams. Organizations bear a particular responsibility to protect their employees and customers with strong policies, procedures and technology safeguards. With proactive vigilance and preparedness, phishing does not need to lead to compromised accounts, data breaches and damaged reputations.