As phishing and spear-phishing attacks on individuals and businesses continue to rise, organizations are taking preventive steps to stop these threats.
Let’s start with understanding what spear phishing and phishing are?
Phishing is an email fraud committed by a person masquerading as either a trusted individual or institution. Phishing emails are sent to a large number of recipients, expecting a low percentage of responses. Spear phishing, in contrast, is a highly targeted attack either on an individual or a particular company. The difference between them is primarily a matter of targeting.
Companies fall victims to these attacks only because they do not follow this two-step approach:
1. Sound security policies- Set the rules on preventing clicking and responding to out of place emails and requests. Train your employees on what to do in case they see something out of place.
2. Spear phishing protection and Security awareness training-Teach your executives the difference between a good and malicious email. Make them aware of how bad emails tend to look like and its harms.
Businesses and large organizations should understand that they need to work with their employees in a coordinated way to defend themselves from these attacks. They need to follow a layered approach to security to avoid falling victim to spear-phishing attacks. Education is the key. Companies should educate them and test their employees regularly by sending them fake phishing emails and teach them to take necessary steps for spear fishing prevention.
To stop spear-phishing attacks, companies can follow a combination of technology and user security training. We have listed several steps you can take to prevent spear phishing and to get important information hacked:
1. If you receive an email from an acquaintance or someone you trust, instead of replying to it, directly forward the same message to the same person to ensure that they were the correct sender. This means, do not merely just hit reply to the email with requested information in the email.
2. Likewise, if you feel that the email you have received seems malicious, try to call that person to confirm that that person sends the email.
3. Train employees to recognize phishing attacks to avoid clicking on malicious links. For example, if the URL of the link to which you are directed to click doesn’t match the supposed company domain, the link is probably fake.
4. Several spam filters can be set to “enable” to identify and prevent suspicious sources’ emails from reaching the employees’ inbox.
5. Enable two-factor authentication to prevent attackers from compromising a user’s credentials from gaining access.
6. Enable Add-ons and extensions on browsers to alert you from clicking any malicious links.
7. Try to keep a strong password for your email. Treat your email as the most important treasure that needs to be locked and safe all the time.
8. Never share your password even with the most trusted one, and don’t open your email on someone else’s system.
9. To ensure the link is fake or not, always type the address directly into the address bar that you receive in the mail. Never click on links directly.
10. Keep updating your Antivirus, Anti-spam on your desktop and laptops.
Following these spear-phishing prevention best practices into your daily routine can make a significant difference to your security.
