Phishing attacks have been increasing steadily throughout 2019. to assess the state of health of your data protection program. But there are ways to actually protect yourself against spear phishing. Targeted spear phishing attacks are carefully designed to go undetected. Email, web, social media, SMS, and mobile apps are all major parts of our digital lives. Username and password do not match or you do not have an account yet. Many organisations saw a shocking increase in social engineering throughout 2018, phishing attacks in particular. Avoid using one password for all your accounts. For each month from July to September 2019, they reported over 80,000 phishing sites, with three-quarters of all attacks targeting just three industry sectors: SaaS/webmail (33 … According to, Implement best practices for responding to. Students and undergraduate applicants to Lancaster University had their personal details stolen in a pair of breaches that were disclosed on 22 July 2019. The most successful type of phishing attack is the so-called spear-phishing attack, which is specifically aimed at individuals or certain companies. The most important defense against spear phishing attacks other then standard controls such as spam filters, malware detection and antivirus, companies should consider phishing simulation tests, user education, and having an established process for users to report suspicious emails to the IT security team. This shows just how hard it is to identify and properly respond to targeted email threats. According to APWG’s Phishing Activity … Lancaster University students’ personal data stolen in phishing attack. Just how susceptible are people to phishing and spear phishing? The attack took the form of a phishing email that was opened by five employees and which resulted in the download of keystroke logging software. Phishing Activity Trends Report, 3rd Quarter 2019 ! This year's report shows how phishing continues to evolve as threat actors adapt to (and exploit) changes in the digital landscape. This is very different to antivirus or other malware protection tools that look only at isolated instances of attack. Europol warns that there is a wealth of at-risk information online about organizations and specific employees, such as top-level managers and finance or payroll staff. They had a data breach … The file then allows the hacker to carry out a range of actions. From a global law enforcement perspective, Europol recently released a report focused on spear phishing that noted how “spear phishing is still one of the most common and most dangerous attack vectors.” The report further detailed how one organized criminal group caused over 1 billion dollars in losses to the financial services industry by leveraging spear phishing as part of their activities to move money via ATM withdrawals and wire transfers. The best passwords are a mix of numbers, special characters and a mix of upper and lower case letters. 15% of people successfully phished will be targeted at least one more time within the year. Like the APWG’s statistics, Europol’s findings show that the number of phishing websites has reached new record levels. If there is no prior knowledge or spear phishing protection in place, attackers can easily target victims who put personal information on the internet. I'm sorry, but in order to complete what you're trying to do, you must be logged in. The largest form of phishing attacks, at 51%, is a malware attack. As the APWG noted, the preferred method was to ask for gift cards (56 percent), with another 25 percent moving funds via payroll diversion and 19 percent via direct transfers. The health insurance giant Anthem experienced a devastating phishing attack in 2015, which resulted in the theft of private data of over 35.5 million customers and key employees including that of Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish. Subscribe to get our Daily Fix delivered to you inbox 5 days a week, » Email Marketing Services Company Epsilon Breach. These emails carried a virus that could potentially compromise government computers and result in sending sensitive data about US nuclear weapon program to foreign governments. For example, the website, Europol has indicated that many organizations are simply unprepared to investigate spear phishing and BEC incidents adequately. This is an interesting example of spear phishing targeting private individuals as opposed to business. The average financial cost of a data breach is $3.86m (IBM) Phishing accounts for 90% of data breaches. The report, titled Spear Phishing: Top Threats and Trends Vol. Given their highly personalized nature, these attacks are far more difficult to prevent as compared to regular phishing scams. To fight spear phishing scams, employees need to be aware of the threats, such as the possibility of bogus emails landing in their inbox. For example, the APWG reported that by the end of 2019, 68 percent of all phishing sites used SSL protection — up from around 10 percent in Q1 2017 — so telling users to look for SSL/TLS visual clues in websites is no longer an effective strategy by itself. Targets have InfoSec, Risk, and Privacy Strategist - Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2019 IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index Report, Business Email Compromise: The $26 Billion Scam, fake unusual sign-in activity notifications, incident response and investigation processes, The structure of the organization — who works where and to whom they report, The various tools, skills and knowledge bases staff use routinely, The processes in place at that particular organization or location, Review your organization’s social engineering footprint, especially on the topics of structure, processes and software. Europol noted that 65 percent of targeted attacks involved spear phishing as the primary infection vector. However, they are also a portal through which attackers can take advantage of our human nature. 12. In their latest report covering Q3 2019, the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) labeled this period as “the worst period for phishing that the APWG has seen in three years.” For each month from July to September 2019, they reported over 80,000 phishing sites, with three-quarters of all attacks targeting just three industry sectors: SaaS/webmail (33 percent), payment industry (21 percent) and financial institutions (19 percent). The email will ask the recipient to supply confidential information, such as bank account details, PINs or passwords; these details are then used by the originators of the phishing email to conduct fraud. Spear phishing campaigns are still hackers’ most-used attack vector in 2019, with over 90% of successful data breaches occurring as a result of a spear-phishing attack. Do not post anything that you do not want a potential scanner to see! Recent statistics from numerous sources point to an increase in the level of phishing activity and sophistication, as well as a heightened impact on organizations in terms of money stolen, data held for ransom and intellectual property pilfered. In this attack, scammers used social engineering techniques to identify Airbnb host targets who were sent out fake emails about General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implications. experienced spear phishing attacks and 86% of them faced BEC attacks.16 In 2019, one of the most targeted service was Microsoft 365 and the main focus was on harvesting credentials.17 Once these credentials had been acquired, the attacker was able to collect more organisational data, a process that could last for weeks or months18 and could then lead to spear-phishing attacks. Readers should not consider statements made by the author as formal recommendations and should consult their financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Spear phishing may sound simple, but the attack emails have greatly improved in the last few years and are now extremely difficult to detect. Here’s an example of a real spear phishing email. Prevention against Spear phishing attacks. The City of Naples says the cyber attack that resulted in the loss of $700,000 was a "sophisticated" spear phishing strategy. spear phishing attack. The phisher acquires personal details of victims such as their friends, hometown, employer, locations they frequent, and what they have recently bought online. Of course, these are just a few examples of prominent attacks that made it to the front pages of the Internet. One of the most prominent examples of spear phishing in the public sector involves the case of Charles Harvey Eccleston who pleaded guilty to sending out emails to U.S Department of Energy employees. The attackers also demanded that Sony also withdraw its film The Interview, a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco with a story plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and threatened terrorist attacks at cinemas screening the film. Business email compromise (BEC) makes up 12% of the spear-phishing attacks analyzed, an increase from just 7% in 2019. There is no fixed script that can be followed against spear phishing protection, but the following best practices are highly recommended. Some of the campaigns are far more targeted and are sent to only a handful of individuals – To individuals in a specific department in a company, for instance. But much of the advice which was common as recently as five years ago is no longer sufficient. destination safely. To read our full disclosure, please go to: http://www.equities.com/disclaimer. Many scams, especially the ones that target private individuals are likely never reported but still, perform their mission with devastating precision. The latest estimate from ProofPoint’s State of the Phish 2020 report indicates that nearly 90% surveyed organizations faced spear phishing attacks in 2019. Effectively preventing these attacks requires monitoring all these activities and, often, in real-time. Barracuda’s research reveals key takeaways about how these targeted attacks are evolving and the approaches cybercriminals are using to maximize their impact. From 2013 to 2019, the FBI reported nearly 70,000 American victims, totaling over 10 billion dollars in losses for the U.S. alone. Type the claimed sender's website
There is a running theme in the reports from the APWG and Europol and the warnings from the FBI/IC3: Take phishing seriously and review your preparations now. sure the authenticity of the links present in email body before clicking on it. In September 2019, the FBI issued a rare warning about BEC attacks via its IC3 reporting center. This involves constantly educating the users about what spear phishing attacks are, and how to guard against them. And they are all being abused for phishing attacks. Such reviews must address the human dimension of security with tailored security awareness campaigns and phishing tests as well as a review of technology controls and response processes. highly popular type of cyber attacks is the
The Spam and Phishing in Q1 2019 report from SecureList (Kaspersky Labs) indicates that phishing attacks targeted users in Brazil most heavily compared to other countries. BEC scams accounted for over $12 billion in losses (FBI) Phishing attempts have grown 65% in the last year. Judging by the amount of activity, the phishing industry is a thriving business. 72% of COVID-19-related attacks are scamming. To avoid raising suspicion and increase their chance of success, spear phishing campaigns tend to seek critical information related to three key aspects of a target organization: Extensive use of job advertising sites and social media platforms by organizations and employees alike can make the process of assembling this information much easier and faster than it would have been just a decade ago. Data protection needs to be an essential part of your overall IT strategy, so
There are several different types of phishing attacks, and the type the scammers use depends on their end goal. Most of these updates have security software that help prevent attack. Some spear phishing attack examples include: Irony struck the security giant RSA in March 2011 when the systems behind the EMC division’s flagship SecurID 2-factor authentication product were compromised using spear phishing. The company maintained large databases of emails from multiple corporate clients and more importantly, some very rich behavioral data that could be a goldmine for a sophisticated scammer. Keep in mind the following tips to be safe from this cyber crime. Phishing is the act of sending emails that falsely claim to be from a legitimate organization. With regard to cyber espionage, phishing was used in 78 percent of cases. Presenting the users with the anatomy of a typical spear phishing attack and outlining the pitfalls of falling victim can make users more vigilant in dealing with emails involving links and calls to action. Spear-Phishing, a Real-Life Example July 5, 2019 By Emil Hozan While reading some online security articles, one in particular stood out. Come 2019, cyber criminals have upped their game and according to new research, cyber criminals will continue to target end users. The reason it stood out was how the story was told; it wasn’t just a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo that is tough to decipher. One year after the arrest made in Spain, spear phishing is still one of the most common and most dangerous attack vectors seen by both, law enforcement and industry. APWG member Agari tracks the identity theft technique known as “business e-mail compromise” or BEC. It is almost impossible to protect against spear phishing considering the number of nuances and intricacies that go into the planning and execution. Consider also whether your password is unique, and, critically, whether you will be able to remember it. The attacker would … 83% of global infosec respondents experienced phishing attacks in 2018, an increase from 76% in 2017. address directly into your browser to get to your
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