Seven Common Phishing Scams: Understand and Prevent Attacks
Imagine starting your day with a cup of coffee, ready to tackle your to-do list, when an email that appears to be from a trusted partner lands in your inbox. It looks legitimate, but hidden within is a phishing trap set by cybercriminals.
This scenario is becoming all too common for businesses, both big and small.
Phishing scams are evolving and becoming more sophisticated with every passing day. Understanding these seven types of threats and debunking common myths is crucial to protect your business effectively.
The Most Popular Phishing Myth
Many people believe phishing scams are easy to identify, thinking they can spot them due to poor grammar, suspicious links, or blatant requests for personal information.
This is far from the truth. Many modern phishing attacks have become highly complicated, making them difficult to detect. Cybercriminals now use advanced technology like AI to create emails, websites, and messages that closely mimic legitimate communications from trusted sources, often lacking any mistakes in grammar.
Most phishing attempts today look authentic, using logos, branding, and language that resemble those of reputable companies or persons. This level of deception means that even well-trained individuals can fall victim to cleverly disguised phishing attempts.
Seven Types of phishing scams
Phishing scams come in various forms, each exploiting different vulnerabilities. Understanding the most common types can help you better protect your business:
- Email phishing: The most common type, in which cybercriminals send emails that appear to be from legitimate sources, such as banks or well-known companies. These emails contain links to fake websites, which if clicked on will be used to steal sensitive information.
- Spear phishing: Targets specific individuals or organizations. Attackers gather information about their targets to create personalized and convincing messages, making it particularly dangerous since it can bypass traditional security measures.
- Whaling: A type of spear phishing that targets high-profile individuals like CEOs and executives. The goal is to trick these individuals into revealing sensitive information or authorizing financial transactions.
- Smishing: A social engineering attack that involves sending phishing messages via SMS or text. These messages often contain links to malicious websites or ask recipients to call a phone number, prompting them to provide personal information.
- Vishing: Involves phone calls from attackers posing as legitimate entities, such as banks or tech support, asking for sensitive information over the phone.
- Clone phishing: Attackers duplicate a legitimate email you’ve previously received, replacing links or attachments with malicious ones. This tactic exploits trust, making it hard to differentiate fake email from genuine communication.
- QR code phishing: Cybercriminals use QR codes to direct victims to malicious websites. These codes often appear on flyers, posters or email attachments. When scanned, the QR codes take you to a phishing site.
Note that this is not a comprehensive list. Cybercriminals will find any way they possibly can to trick and exploit you and your business.
Other Threats You Should be Aware of
Not all threats come in the form of simple phishing.
Scareware: Every person who owns a computer or smart phone should also be aware of Scareware. Scareware are pop-ups that appear to be a system notification, alerting you of a virus infection, security breach, or system malfunction. However, these are fake, and are attempting to get you to follow their instructions out of fear and haste.
Vendor Scams: Similar to vishing, you may receive a call posing to be one of your vendors and they will try to trick you into downloading a virus. These Cyber criminals have been calling claiming that an update needs to be downloaded for your office equipment—specifically your copier. They will then send you an email with a Zoom download link and coerce you into downloading malware and viruses. These viruses can steal information from your business and potentially take over your computers, making you vulnerable to ransomware.
Toner Pirates: These Pirates call businesses claiming to be their supply company or claiming to be Century Business Products. They will get your contact information, ask about your current equipment, and quiz you about your current servicing company. Later, they will call back & use that information against you, informing you that toner prices are going up, smoothly coaxing you into ordering toner from them at a low price. HOWEVER, they will send you low quality cartridges for up to 5x the price of your typical toner.
NEVER give out personal or crucial information until you are 100% certain there is no threat. Establish a zero-trust rule and do not give ANY email or ANY call the “benefit of the doubt.”
Protecting Your Business from Phishing Scams
To safeguard your business from phishing scams, follow these practical steps:
- Train employees regularly to recognize the latest phishing attempts and conduct simulated exercises.
- Implement advanced email filtering solutions to detect and block phishing emails.
- Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all accounts to add an extra layer of security.
- Keep software and systems up to date with the latest security patches.
- Utilize firewalls, antivirus software and intrusion detection systems to protect against unauthorized access.
- Check the phone number or the email domain
- When in doubt of a mysterious phone number claiming to be a trusted business, hang up. Call the listed phone number from that business’ website and ask about the mysterious number.
Overwhelmed? We can help
By now, it’s clear that phishing scams are constantly evolving, and staying ahead of these threats requires continuous effort and vigilance.
Our team is here to help you strategically ramp up your cybersecurity measures. Together, we can create a safer digital environment for your business, reach out here: https://catalyst-itnow.com/contact-us/