Phishing is what we commonly hear when it comes to protecting organizations and individuals. We all know what phishing attacks are, but spear-phishing is an advanced and targeted attack. While a phishing attack is when hackers tend to send phishing emails to thousands, spear-phishing is highly targeted, targeting a specific person, business, or organization. Such type of phishing attack is where the culprit pretends to know you and is after something particular.
Everyone has access to something a hacker wants. To get it, hackers may be aiming for a targeted attack directly at you, your company, or your business. The aim might include stealing your company’s intellectual property, customer data useful for identity theft or even your personal data such as your income, medical records, or bank account details. The income details could aid hackers to access your tax refund or even file for unemployment benefits on your behalf. Spear-phishing, also commonly known as targeted attacks, is positioned to fool you into handing over login details or downloading their desired malicious software. This is exactly what happened with Twitter back in July, where hackers targeted a specific group of people in very powerful positions. According to cybersecurity experts, hackers commonly send their targets an ‘urgent ’message or email, containing reliable information relating to you, something that could rise from your credit card bill, social media accounts or even your income tax return.
So, how do we avoid falling into the spear-phishing trap? By following the security tips to start.
How to not fall for Spear-Phishing attacks?
Get pass phishing by calling the sender
If you receive something claiming to be important or urgent to download, requesting you to send a money order from your company accounts, asking you to reset your account passwords, don’t act quickly by giving the info what they want. Call, email or text the sender; whether it be someone pretending to be your boss, the IRS, your bank, or anyone sending you such an urgent request, contacting them directly is a good way to verify that the request is, in fact, legitimate.
Know the basic signs of phishing attacks
Spear-phishing can be done via text, phone call, and/or email. They try to trick you into sharing your password, into visiting a malicious website or downloading a corrupt file.
The first thing to do when you receive phishing emails is to pause for a moment before hitting the click button. Check the basic signs of the sender:
- Does the email address seem a little off? Something like twittr.co., or Microsoft.net.
- Take a look at the ‘from’ section in the mailbox. Does the email address match the name of the sender, is the business’s name spelled correctly? Or are there chunks of odd characters in the email address?
- Does the sender address you by name? Be careful when you see such emails addressing you as Sir or Customer.
- Is the email free from basic grammar mistakes or spelling mistakes?
Lock your personal information
Anyone attempting to spear-phish you must have access to your personal information to get started. At times, just your company website, job designation or your Linkedin profile can be enough for scammers to determine that you’re a potential target. This is one crucial reason to set your social media accounts settings to private and avoid posting every tiny thing that you do on such platforms.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a must for your personal and work accounts. That way, even if you fall prey to sharing your login credentials, hackers won’t have access to everything they need to log in.
Follow these steps and you’re likely to be prepared to face spear-phishing attacks and avoid the cost of falling prey to hackers. These steps are also helpful for avoiding the ongoing Covid-19, tax and other online scams.
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