Introduction
Cybercrime is on the rise, with a slew of new ways for criminals to target and infiltrate systems being developed. Phishing attacks are one of the most common ways for cyber thieves to obtain access to your personal information and data with just a tap or click of a button. Individuals can be victimized by these attacks in a variety of ways. Throughout this post, we will explore the necessity of recognizing a phishing assault and how to avoid one.
What is Phishing?
In simple terms, it is a type of cybercrime in which a cybercriminal uses a variety of channels to communicate with victims, including text, email, social media, and even phone calls. An individual is attacked in an urgent matter through various channels, and the perpetrator is impersonating a brand or personality. These attacks are all based on current events and trends in order to entice people into falling for the trap.
What Types of Phishing Are There?
1. Email
Phishing via email is the most popular method of attack. Cybercriminals frequently register a fictitious domain to imitate a brand, business, or individual and make hundreds of generic requests. When a person receives this request, the sender is usually attempting to trick them into clicking a malicious link or attachment that can perform a variety of purposes.
2. Spear
Spear is a type of targeted assault that aims to acquire access to an individual’s account or impersonate a certain person, such as a high-ranking official or someone involved in sensitive company activities.
3. Whaling
Whaling assaults are a type of phishing attack that targets specific persons, such as senior executives, by impersonating a valid email. Whaling is a type of social engineering-based digital fraud that entices victims to do a secondary action, such as initiating a wire transfer of funds.
4. Smishing and Vishing
Vishing is a type of phishing scam that uses phone calls to trick you into divulging personal information. Smishing is the use of deceptive text messages to deceive you into disclosing personal information.
5. Angler
Angler is a new type of phishing attack that targets people who use social media. People pose as customer service representatives on social media in order to contact disgruntled customers and obtain their personal information or account credentials.
Current Statistics of Industries That Are Most Targeted
How Multifactor Authentication Can Prevent Phishing Attacks?
By adding an extra layer of security to the account or service, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) can help prevent sensitive data from being stolen. In situations where phishing attempts to infect a system by delivering malware, a threat prevention system can aid.
Conclusion
Simply put, when it comes to phishing attacks, do not fall for the bait that hackers use to try to trick you into falling for the fraud. Always be mindful of who is sending you emails and double-check the domains. If something appears to be phishing, remove it and report it right away.