The rise of spear phishing attacks means we have to learn to be suspicious.
Spear phishing attacks are on the rise and therefore so are the number of victims of successful attacks. In order to protect your organisation from threats like this you need to have a multifaceted approach to email security.
Your Staff are the Key
You may have invested in the best technology to prevent or mitigate a phishing attack but equally important to your defence is your staff and that aspect can be difficult to control. It takes just one person to open a phishing email or click on a malicious link to put your entire network and company at risk.
Senior management, decision makers, and people with access to transfer finances are the most likely to be targeted by phishing attacks. FuseMail, the email security experts, have developed leading email security technology to identify and prevent phishing and spear phishing attacks in the cloud, before they reach your network.
Spear Phishing
Phishing is described as any website, online service, phone call, text message or email that poses as a company or brand you recognise. Attacks are generally undertaken on a large scale – a big net is cast to try to catch as many victims as possible.
Spear phishing is similar to phishing but is undertaken on a more targeted level. The spear phishers target specific individuals using social media, telephone calls and in some cases the hacking of accounts in order to get more detailed information about their potential victims. They invest time and effort to get as much information as possible about their target and then use that to make their requests appear very authentic.
Both types are designed to convince you or your team to hand over valuable organisational details, money, or trick you into downloading something that infects your computer and corporate IT network. The impostors phish for potential victims by sending emails, social media messages or text messages or making phone calls with urgent messages in the hope of persuading someone to visit the bogus website or pay out sums of money.
Why do they do it?
They do it because it works. One in four companies reported a cyber breach in the last 12 months. According to research compiled by the University of Portsmouth for the 2016 Annual Fraud Indicator report, fraud is taking place on an industrial scale and is one of the biggest crimes afflicting UK PLCs today.
It just takes a single click.
You may have invested in the best technology to prevent or mitigate a phishing attack but the mainstay of your defence is your staff and that can be difficult to control. It takes just one person believing a phishing email or clicking on a malicious link to put your entire network and company at risk.
Staff knowledge and awareness is the balance between success and failure
By arming your staff with the knowledge to identify phishing scams you will benefit from money and time savings, a clean reputation and an improved staff mood. In fact, being able to detect a potential malicious email and act promptly makes your staff feel important, empowered and active in the fight against cyber-crime.
Adopting a user awareness programme combined with traditional anti-malware enhances your anti-phishing capabilities, by understanding that employees can serve as a valuable active defence layer inside the organisation.
FuseMail allow you to connect with confidence everywhere and every way. For more information on FuseMail you can speak with the expert team at DNA IT Solutions.