Phishing is still one of the biggest threats when it comes to cybercrime in 2022. SlashNext reports that more than 255 million phishing attacks have already taken place in 2022. This is a 61% increase in the rate since 2021. It also detected an 80% increase in threats from trusted services like Microsoft or Google. Targeted spear phishing credential harvesting attacks accounted for 60% of the threats.
Spear phishing targets victims in a more calculated way than other high-volume, more random phishing attacks. Attacks are personalized in such a way that makes them hard to detect, which is why many of them are so successful.
What Is Spear Phishing?
To conduct a spear phishing attack, cybercriminals need to do a certain amount of research. They will analyze social media accounts and various other online sources to find relevant information they can use to phish targets in a credible way.
Spear phishing is one of the increasingly common types of phishing where attackers use sophisticated social engineering techniques. They will fool unsuspecting victims into taking harmful actions. Advanced email security solutions are necessary to protect against a variety of phishing threats that traditional solutions can no longer protect against.
Examples Of Spear Phishing Attacks
Spear phishing takes phishing to another level. Cybercriminals will often use high-pressure language and tell victims that they need to act quickly.
Fake Websites: A Cybercriminal Will Design A Carefully Worded Email
With personal data on hand, they can address an individual by name and ask them to click on a link that takes them to a spoofed version of a popular website. When on the spoofed site, they are asked to provide user names, passwords, bank account numbers, PIN numbers etc.
Some victims have received emails that appear to come from GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain register company. They ask the target to follow a link to prove they are an account holder. Arriving on a fake GoDaddy sign-in page that looks just like the real one, they will unsuspectingly enter their login details.
IBM reports that one out of five malicious data breaches that occurred in 2021 were due to lost or stolen credentials.
Fake Notifications From Trusted Platforms
Attackers often leverage fake notifications from trusted platforms, like Microsoft teams. The goal is credential theft, and if the user clicks on the “Reply in Teams” button, they are taken to a fake login page. If they enter details, their account is compromised, and if they use the same password for multiple accounts, the cybercriminal has access to multiple accounts.
CEO Fraud
CEO fraud is a form of spear phishing where a cybercriminal impersonates a senior executive in a company. The target may be a junior employee in the company, fellow executives, or vendors. The attacker assumes the identity of the CEO and asks them to complete an urgent action, such as requesting payment of a time-sensitive invoice.
Malware
A malware attack is when a cybercriminal tries to trick an employee into clicking on a malicious email attachment. This is usually carried out using a fake invoice or delivery notification.
Consequences Of Spear Phishing Attacks
Some of the consequences of spear phishing attacks are:
- Direct monetary losses
- Reputation damage
- User downtime
- Legal fees
- Loss of customers
- Compliance fines
- Remediation time
- Intellectual property loss
How Can You Protect Your Business Against Spear Phishing Attacks?
Many of the security strategies, such as secure email gateways or firewalls that effectively protected against phishing attacks in the past, are no longer as effective as they once were. This is because bad actors launch their attacks from business and personal messaging apps or from trusted servers.
Offer Regular And Extensive Security Awareness Training
Educating employees on phishing attack risks and how to spot the signs has been proven to lower the risks. Simulating phishing campaigns is one of the best ways to address the susceptibility of end users. Phishing awareness training and simulation platforms can have a huge impact on how employees respond to social engineering attacks.
Behavioral cybersecurity learning models can help employees to acquire lifelong habits instead of short-term quiz knowledge on yesterday’s threats. In practice, this means that they learn to report suspicious emails out of habit rather than click on malicious links out of curiosity.
A report from Cofense found that employees who complete security awareness training are far more likely to report a suspicious email than those who haven’t.
Take A Multi-Layered Approach
Modern security strategies, including the use of AI phishing controls, can help to address all varieties of phishing attacks. A multi-layered approach that implements various technical and human-centric solutions is the best defense against spear phishing. Technology alone is not enough because humans are often the weak link in the security chain.
Update Your Infrastructure
Ensure that all your operating systems, applications, network tools, and internal software are kept secure and up to date. This includes installing anti-spam software and malware protection to endpoints. Endpoint protection is vital today now that so many employees work remotely. Protecting their devices can help to reduce the risk of attacks.
Create Network Access Rules
Establish network access rules to restrict the use of personal devices and sharing of information outside your network. Employees working remotely should not use their personal devices to access business networks or allow others to use work devices for personal reasons.
You can use a VPN to secure your network and hide it from hackers. It will encrypt all your information and network particulars. Securing connections through a dedicated IP address means that malicious users can be identified and revoked.
Conclusion
Dealing with spear phishing attacks will consist of using a combination of technical solutions and training employees and upgrading your cybersecurity measures throughout the system. Training employees is one of the best ways to deal with sophisticated social engineering attacks because they become more aware of how to detect them and of the implications for the company.
