Why are phishing attacks the most common cybercrime? It’s simple … it’s because they work, unfortunately.
Every day, over 3.4 billion spam messages reach unsuspecting users’ inboxes. Phishing e-mails have held the top spot as the most frequent form of attack for years for many reasons — they’re easy to implement, easy to scale and continue to fool people. AI tools like ChatGPT are now making it even easier for cybercriminals to create e-mails that look and sound like they’re coming from humans instead of bots and scammers. If you’re not careful, the effects of phishing scams can be detrimental.
Since it’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we created this simple guide to help you and your team successfully identify phishing e-mails and understand why it’s so important to recognize the scams.
What can happen? Here are 4 significant dangers associated with phishing attacks:
1. Data Breaches
Phishing attacks can lead to cybercriminals accessing your organization’s sensitive information. Once exposed, they can sell it on the dark web or demand a ransom, potentially costing you a lot without any guarantee of return. This can lead to financial and legal issues, harm your reputation, and lose customer trust — definitely NOT something you want.
2. Financial Loss
Cybercriminals often use phishing e-mails to steal money directly from businesses. Whether through fraudulent invoices or unauthorized transactions, falling victim to phishing has a direct impact on your business’s bottom line.
3. Malware Infections
Phishing e-mails can contain malicious attachments or links that can infect your systems with malware when clicked. This can disrupt your operations, lead to data loss and require costly remediation efforts.
4. Compromised Accounts
When employees fall for scams, their accounts can be compromised. Attackers can then use this access to launch further attacks or gain unauthorized access to sensitive company data.
And the list goes on. However, there are actions you can take to prevent becoming the next victim of a phishing attack.
The S.E.C.U.R.E. Method
This is a method you and your employees can use to help identify phishing e-mails.
S — Start With The Subject Line: Is it odd? (e.g., “FWD: FWD: FWD: review immediately”)
E — Examine The E-mail Address: Do you recognize the person? Is the e-mail address unusual? (e.g., spelled differently) or unknown (not the one they usually send from)?
C — Consider The Greeting: Is the salutation unusual or generic? (e.g., “Hello Ma’am!”)
U — Unpack The Message: Is there extreme urgency to get you to click a link or download an attachment or act on a too-good-to-be-true offer?
R — Review For Errors: Are there grammatical mistakes or odd misspellings?
E — Evaluate Links And Attachments: Hover over links before you click them to check the address, and do not open attachments from anyone you don’t know or weren’t expecting to receive mail from.
It’s also important to have a cybersecurity expert monitor your network and eliminate e-mail spam before your employees can make a mistake (we can help with this!). Make sure you’re taking proper precautions to protect your network. These phishing attacks work and happen all the time.
We don’t want YOU (or your business) to be the next victim.
If you need help training your team on cybersecurity best practices or implementing a robust cybersecurity system, or just want a second set of eyes to examine what you currently have in place and assess if there are any vulnerabilities, we are ready to help. Call us at 410-860-9899 or click here to book a call with our team.
Fortifi Cyber Security, a sibling company to Atlantic Technology Services, can help your organization protect itself against cyber threats with world-class, highly-affordable security services. Call Fortifi today at 888-500-9111 or sign up for a free vulnerability test.