Phishing Has Evolved – Has Your Cybersecurity Kept Up?

Cybersecurity In New Orleans

Hackers and cyber terrorists have evolved and consistently find workarounds for security measures designed to stop them. As it turns out, they don’t always have to work that hard at it. That’s because few businesses know how to anticipate and prevent attacks. When the wall surrounding your data isn’t fortified with new technology to thwart breaches, hackers simply recycle old attack plan — and they keep working.

One of the most popular methods of gaining access is through phishing. which tricks your employees into giving up their credentials.

What Is Phishing?

Cybercriminals use phishing to send fraudulent emails disguised as reputable sources to get the target to give up personal information and authorize financial transfers. Phishing attacks are massive email drops with falsified credentials of people or institutions. They often include malware attachments or links to sites that initiate a virus download. Often, entire organizations are targeted by ransomware hackers attempting to get into the corporate databases.

Industrious phishers are getting smarter, evolving, and having better hit rates despite the best attempts of corporations to shore up their defenses.

Has Phishing Evolved?

One of the most recent developments has been nicknamed “vishing.” Bad actors disguise links or attachments as fake voicemail files. Instead of disguising the attachment as a PDF or other file, cybercriminals make it look like an audio file from your automated voicemail service.

Here’s how to avoid vishing viruses:

• Don’t answer unknown numbers.
• Don’t answer unsolicited marketing, sales or outreach emails.
• Don’t call numbers in online ads or emails.
• Educate employees to hang up and call the person from an official phone number.
• Let your IT provider know about the attacks.

Like phishing, vishing assumes that users will fall for the bait. So, it’s an avoidable phenomenon.

How Can You Spot Phishing Attempts?

Education is also key to avoid successful phishing attempts. Follow these tips and share them with your employees:

• Don’t trust the display name. Check the address in the header and don’t open suspicious emails.
• Hover your mouse over embedded. This gives you the link address so that you can avoid weird addresses.
• Check for spelling mistakes.
• Analyze the greeting. Emails with vaue greetings to “Valued Customer” or “Dear Friend” should raise red flags.
• Don’t share your personal information. Banks and legitimate companies won’t solicit personal information in an email.

Are You Interested in a Free Dark Web Scan Offer?

Get a Free Dark Web Scan today. Find out whether your personal information has been compromised by identity thieves. If you are interested in this free offer contact BIOS Technologies at INFO@BIOSITGROUP.COM.

BIOS Technologies can perform phishing tests to reveal to help you identify employees for cyber awareness training. If you need help with your network management or other IT needs, contact us today for an initial assessment.

David Williams

BIOS Technologies’ mission is to deliver superior IT support to the SMB market in the New Orleans Metro Area. We focus on companies that understand the business/security risks of unmanaged technology and want to maximize efficiency and profitability.