Understanding Some Common Forms Of Phishing and Their Relevant Anti-Phishing Solutions
Anti-phishing software solutions are those technological services which prevent any unauthorised breach of confidential and sensitive information from any phishing attempt.
The security service helps in protecting your data on different platforms such as applications, network and storages etc. The software is intelligent enough to identify phishing content in an e-mail or website and blocks the content. The app works by integrating into web browsers for better protection. Here are some commonly used phishing methods by hackers and the anti-phishing solutions to prevent users or employees from becoming a victim of such attack.
Dropbox Phishing
Cyber criminals very cleverly mask the phishing emails such that it seems to be originating from an authentic similar looking Dropbox domain. The primary source or malware is a malicious Dropbox file in most of the cases with a URL in the email pointing to Dropbox. Once the user clicks the file, he is taken to a fake Dropbox page which will look authentic and ask for your login credentials.
Solution:
To block such spam’s, carefully review the ‘From’ field in the email and verify it to be coming from the official Dropbox domain. You can also use a well-known and reputed E-mail managing software which has an automated dynamic blacklisting capability to prevent phishing attempts. For instance Protonmail, eM Client, etc.
Deceptive Phishing
A common form of a phishing scam where the fraudsters impersonate as a legitimate individual to steal their personal information and credentials is deceptive phishing. This type of phishing uses emails threats to create a sense of urgency and lure users to the scam.
Solution:
The best available solution and also the ground rule to identify such emails is that the legitimate companies, banks and other financial institutions will never ask you for your personal data in an email. Users should look out and be aware of such emails and the URL within. He should be careful and close the webpage, delete the email if the URL tries to redirect the user to an unknown/unfamiliar website or a website that looks susceptible.
Spear Phishing
This type of phishing attacks is targeted towards individuals instead of group individuals. The main objective of the scam is to acquire user’s banking details such as account details, username and passwords, credit or debit card numbers etc. Cyber criminals send maliciously crafted email messages with the target’s name, company name or any personal information which will trick the user into clicking the URL where he is prompted to enter the private bank details or card details.
Solution:
For protection against such scams, organisations should develop social engineering attack types & awareness programmes especially designed to train employees and focused on phishing techniques used by cyber criminals and protection against these attempts.
CEO Fraud
In this type of phishing attack, the scammers go for the big whales like the CEO of a company. The phishing starts by profiling the target and further stealing their login credentials. Business email scams are a combination of spear phishing, email spoofing, and social engineering, which is a rising threat.
Solution:
Common sense and security awareness are your best defence. Educate and train those employees who deal with finances or with sensitive and confidential information that can jeopardise your business operations. Ensure that they know about such scams, know how to identify such emails and actions to take.
Pharming
Phishing scams are turning savvy with new attack forms like Domain Name System cache poisoning. They entice victims using fabricated emails to land the user to a fake page for stealing their personal information. Pharming is a twofold process where the first step focuses on by hacking the computer’s IP address and then trafficking users to unwanted web pages.
Solution:
An anti-phishing software might not be of use in such cases if the DNS server itself is poisoned, and hence the protection from such attacks required both an anti-phishing software in conjunction with the best security practices such as not visiting a fictitious looking website or clicking on a URL in a suspicious email
‘To err is human’ and the human is also the weakest link in the security layer that protects the organisation’s information assets and hence must be given the highest priority when it comes to information security. The best part of employee awareness is it does not cost organisations much yet it is the best solution when it comes to anti phishing solutions.
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