What is Phishing?
Phishing is similar to fishing in a lake, but instead of trying to catch fish, phishers try to steal your personal information. They send emails that appear to come from legitimate websites such as eBay, PayPal, or other banking institutions. The emails state that your information needs to be updated or verified and ask you to enter your username and password after clicking on a link in the email.
Some emails ask you to enter additional information, such as your full name, address, phone number, social security number, and credit card number. However, even if you visit the wrong website and only enter your username and password, a phisher may be able to access more information just by logging into your account.
Phishing is a scam game played by scammers. Use unwitting users to collect personal information. Scam emails often look surprisingly legitimate, and even web pages asking you to enter your information may look genuine. However, the Internet address (URL) in the address field can tell you whether the page you are directed to is valid or not.
for example:
If you are visiting a web page on eBay, the last part of the domain name must end with “ebay.com”. So, “http://www.ebay.com” and “http://cgi3.ebay.com” are valid web addresses, but “http://www.ebay.validate-info.com” and “http ://ebay.login123.com” are false addresses that phishers may use. If the URL contains an IP address like 12.30.229.107 instead of a domain name, you can almost be sure that someone is trying to phish your personal information.
If you receive an email asking you to update your information and think it might be valid, instead of clicking the link in the email, go to the website by typing the URL into your browser’s address bar.
-Post. For example, go to “https://www.paypal.com” instead of clicking a link in an email that looks like it’s from PayPal. The email is probably legitimate if you’re prompted to update your information after manually typing in the web address and logging in. However, if you are not asked to update any information, it is most likely a fake email sent by a phisher.
Most legitimate emails address you by your full name at the beginning of the letter. Message. If you doubt the legitimacy of an email, be smart and don’t enter your information. Even if you think the message is legitimate, following the guidelines above will prevent you from giving your personal information to phishers.
The dangers of phishing attacks
Although phishing is designed to target individuals, if a phishing attack is successful, it will have irreparable consequences for both individuals and organizations.
Cybercriminals can gain access to personal and corporate applications by having user information logged into the system, and by changing the password, they can lock the owners’ access to the accounts. They can also make it harder to access accounts by adding multi-factor authentication to their devices.
This issue becomes especially problematic when the attacker sends apparently legitimate messages to different users through email and eventually the entire network is compromised.
After entering the organization’s network, hackers can use the permissions they have obtained from people to install malware that can shut down company systems or steal money and intellectual property.
Due to the level of control that managers have in their organization, walling attack can have a severe impact on the company. These attacks have caused millions of dollars in damage to organizations.
In addition to the financial damage and the loss of the organization’s capital, in some cases, customer data has been compromised and the organization’s reputation has been damaged.
How do phishing attacks work?
Most phishing attacks are carried out via email. The attacker will most likely go through a list of compromised emails and send phishing emails in bulk, expecting to trick at least a portion of the list.
The sender often tries to identify itself as a legitimate entity, such as the person’s personal services company (in the case of an individual) or a supplier (in the case of a business).
The purpose of the email is to trick the user into responding to the email or usually clicking on a link that will direct them to a fake website that looks like a legitimate website. The user then tries to log into the fake website, thinking that the website is real and the attacker can steal his password.
Depending on how far the attacker has gone with the fake website, they may also obtain additional information necessary for identity theft. For example, he might create a dashboard that looks like a legitimate website and ask for a person’s credit card information, social security number, address, etc. to use in later attacks. Apart from general phishing attacks, other types of attacks There is also phishing that you should be aware of as well.
Spear fishing
Spear phishing is a targeted attempt to steal sensitive information such as account information or financial information from a specific victim, often with malicious intent.
This goal is achieved by obtaining the victim’s personal information, such as the city of residence, phone number, places the victim regularly visits, or recent online purchases. The attacker then impersonates a trusted friend or organization to obtain sensitive information, usually through email or other online messages. This method is the most successful method of obtaining confidential information on the Internet, which accounts for about 91% of attacks.
Unlike spear phishing attacks, the victims of phishing attacks are not specific and targeted, and emails are usually sent to many people at the same time. The goal of phishing attacks is to send a fake email to a large number of people. With the goal that someone might click on the desired link and provide their personal information or download malware. Whereas spear phishing attacks target a specific victim and the messages are changed to specifically address that victim.
Successful spear phishing requires more thought and time than phishing. Phishing attackers try to obtain as much personal information as possible from their victims in order to make the email they send look legitimate and increase their chances of fooling the recipients. Spear phishing attacks are more difficult to detect than large-scale phishing attacks. This is why spear phishing attacks are spreading.
Walling
A step beyond spear phishing is the walling attack. Walling is a special type of spear phishing attack in which fraudsters target high-profile individuals such as CEOs in the private sector or high-ranking government officials.
Walling attacks often try to force the victim’s subordinates to take action. The FBI report shows that criminals often try to gain control of the CFO or CEO and spoof their accounts.
