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Stop Phishing Emails: 4 Reasons why are they Becoming More Common
Phishing is among the most common attack vector used by bad actors today to target businesses of all sizes and their personnel to subvert the cybersecurity and business IT solutions they may have in place. This post is all about How to stop Phishing Emails and 4 reasons why its becoming more common.
Essentially, phishing is a “Social Engineering” (to deceive and manipulate individuals into divulging confidential or personal information that may be used for fraudulent purposes) attack used to obtain sensitive information, such as login credentials and payment details, from users.
It happens when an attacker, posing as a trusted source, dupes a victim into clicking on a malicious link or downloading a spam file sent over email, text messages, phone calls or social media. If you fall into this trap, you could end up with ransomware, malware, system slowdowns and sensitive data loss, among other things.
Stop Phishing Emails NOW! (35% is more than enough)
The term phishing is one of the most reviled in today’s digital landscape and is a significant concern for executives.
It’s no surprise that the word is frowned upon when the attack vector was responsible for more than 35% of data breaches last year. *
These attacks can be severely damaging for people and businesses and is one of the major areas of focus for business IT solutions provider companies – also known as Managed IT Services Provider.
While individuals are affected by illicit purchases, financial fraud or identity theft, a company that is the victim of such an attack, in most cases, suffers severe financial losses as well as a loss of market share, reputation and stakeholder trust.
Ransomware in particular is extremely damaging and dangerous for small businesses. So stop it. Just stop it and stop loosing money or socialcapital (like your facebook, gmail or tiktok account). Stop phishing emails!
Unfortunately, it is estimated that some 60% of small businesses affected by a ransomware attack fail within six months of the attack. Reason – don`t know how to stop phishing emails and how to avoid “clicks” in business teams.
Today’s reality regarding phishing is that the attack vector is becoming more sophisticated and frequent with each passing day. Likewise, the demands on businesses and IT support providers to effectively combat the threat have increased.
Why phishing attacks are becoming more frequent?
1. Remote or Hybrid IT Workspaces
Over the last year and a half, a significant number of organizations had to transition to remote and/or hybrid business IT solutions for their work models.
While the switch allowed operations to continue without interruption from quarantine protocols, the scattered workforce and mobile endpoints brought their own set of challenges.
One of the main problems was vulnerabilities becoming more visible to the bad guys, who quickly exploited them through phishing attacks.
2. Organizational oversights
Many businesses, in efforts to stay afloat amid the global crisis, completely disregarded cybersecurity.
This included decreased spending on security posture, a lack of employee training and much more.
Such mistakes opened the door for cybercriminals.
3. Constantly evolving cybercriminals
Keep in mind that hackers constantly strive to uncover and exploit even the tiniest flaws in your business.
They’re constantly shifting their strategy, so you’re practically defending against a moving attacker – hence, a competent Business IT Solutions company becomes even more important than ever.
Threat actors have recently targeted businesses via their website contact form, pretending to be legal authorities, saying that the company is not complying with the law and asking the organization to download a “report” – and this is just one way of doing it.
4. Cheap phishing tools
Several low-cost phishing tools and services are available on the dark web, allowing even non-technical people to become hackers.
So, what can we do to stop phishing emails in 2022?
How can businesses stay safe? How can YOU stop phishing emails? DIY Solutions:
To avoid falling victim to phishing, all small and midsize businesses (SMBs) must be constantly vigilant. To keep your business safe, you must:
- Facilitate regular security awareness training to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that employees are aware that the treat exists and what forms it takes, to strictly adhere to relevant security requirements. This is critical as it only takes one negligent or careless employee clicking on the wrong link for a cybercriminal to bypass all the best business IT solutions your IT as a whole.
- Ensure that your IT infrastructure is up to date so that hackers cannot exploit unpatched/non-updated systems.
- Enforce strong password policies and create a system that prohibits anyone from evading them.
- Try and isolate vital infrastructure components as much as possible, so that everything doesn’t collapse like a house of cards in the case of a breach.
- Conduct mock phishing drills to get data on your employees’ degree of alertness. This can highlight where additional training is needed.
- Deploy an automated phishing detection solution that is powered by artificial intelligence.
- Furthermore, a cybersecurity and technology audit can inform you if you have cyberattack vulnerabilities or any of your IT components have risks that must be mitigated quickly.
- Lastly, ensure you have multiple secure backups of your data so in the event of a breach (or a non-malicious data loss event such as an accident, hardware failure or natural disaster) you can quickly restore your business to functionality.
How to stop phishing emails by simply not touching them
Most frequent questions and answers about phishing emails
Is it a PayPal scam email and how do I know if the email is phishing?
A PayPal scam email is an email that appears to be from PayPal but is not. The goal of the scammer is to steal your login credentials and other personal information. In order to avoid being a victim of this type of scam, you should always look out for these red flags:
– The sender’s address: If it is not PayPal, then it can’t be a PayPal scam.
– The content: If you see any links in the email or attachments, delete them immediately.
– The sender’s name: If you think something does not seem right, then check with PayPal’s customer service before clicking on any links or opening any attachments.
Simple solution: mark an Email as SPAM (find this button in your email-browser)
What are a few simple steps to stop phishing emails "by amazon"
Amazon is a world leader in retail and when it comes to shopping on Amazon, it pays to be smart. Amazon is the leading retailer in the world. This has made it a target for phishing scams.
It’s important to be aware of the Amazon phishing emails that are typically sent out to steal sensitive information.
a) Don`t be a hero! Find a managed service provider like Sequentur and give them a call
OR
b) Google some firewalls antiviruses and tips to stay safe while you browse thru mobile
How to define phishing email and report phishing website or scammer?
Phishing emails and phishing websites are fraudulent messages that attempt to trick you into revealing sensitive personal or financial information.
These messages often contain urgent or frightening language. There are many different types of phishing messages, but the most common ones are email, text message, and instant message.
Examples of phishing emails:
- A message that asks for your personal or financial information, and claims that it is necessary to secure a loan.
- An email with a bank or credit card logo and the sender’s name. The text or email address may appear to be legit, but it is not the real company.
- An attachment may also be included in the email (check if you realy KNOW the person who have sent you one).
- A message that asks for personal or financial information and contains a link to a website that looks like the legitimate one for the company, but is not. (check every word – does it written right?)