The most popular, and definitely the most tenacious cyber crimes in the last several years have been the phishing attacks. All around the world, people are constantly getting fake emails claiming to be coming from corporate companies, government institutions, and even famous organizations. The truth is, they’re not, and if you’ve received one or more of those emails, you were a target of a phishing scam.
What’s A Phishing Scam And How Does It Work
A phishing scam is a type of fraud where the one doing the scam tries to steal their victim’s credentials, mostly passwords, user IDs and credit card data. Scammers are trying to obtain this information during the electronic communication with the victim.
The most common and obvious way is a fake email that claims to be from one of the mentioned organizations and contains a link. If the victim clicks on the link, it will lead them to the website that’s filled with data-stealing malware that then proceeds to steal your info.
Apart from the so-called email spoofing, there’s also instant messaging, but the goal remains to get the victim on the fake website that will then steal the info. Websites are often pretty similar to the real thing, so if you’re not paying attention, they might actually get you. Three different phishing techniques are often used:
- Spear Phishing
This technique is mostly used on a smaller group of people, mostly the ones that work in the same place, same company for example. The attackers are going up against high-level targets, and the source of the emails is most likely to be someone within the organization, someone who holds some authority.
- Clone Phishing
When it comes to this technique, the attacker would use the receiver’s address and the content of a previously sent email, but instead of the legitimate content, this time the email would contain a link that leads to the phishing website.
- Whaling
In this method, the hackers are targeting private companies’ senior members, someone who can reveal sensitive information. Emails and web pages that are used in these attacks pretend to be highly legitimate, and they’re often joined with consumer complaints, legal summons and maybe even managerial issues that need to be quickly dealt with, so that the victim would send an urgent reply.
It Can Harm Your Business
Phishing is considered to be a serious cyber-crime, and it can have many consequences if it’s successful.
The victims of a phishing attack may experience data loss or even a financial loss, their devices may be infected by malware, viruses and alike. It could potentially come to blacklisting of institutions, misuse of sensitive data, like social security numbers, or other user’s details that could be an interesting target for hackers.
Your information can also be used to open a new account that might be used for financial gain, and after the illegal act is committed, the hacker gets the money, while you get blamed. So, basically, an identity theft is also a completely realistic option. This kind of misuse of your personal information can destroy your life.
Phishing attacks have grown a lot in the last few years, and only in the last three months of 2012, more than 25,000 cases were reported to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG). There were also more than 45,000 different phishing websites detected.
The most obvious and common targets are payment and financial services, but there was also a high percent of phishing attacks connected to the online games. These attacks are aimed at your gaming credentials, like identities of the gamers, but also rare items that were obtained inside the game, Those items are then sold for the actual, real money on the black markets.
How To Protect Yourself
There are several ways to protect yourself from phishing attacks, and the first step is to always be aware of them, and stay on the lookout. Other than that, there are several steps to protect your info and your device.
Two-Factor Authentication Method
Many of the social media are using this method to prevent their users from being hacked, and these include DropBox, Facebook, Microsoft, Gmail, iCloud, and even Twitter works on getting it. This is a simple process, though it might take a couple extra seconds which makes it unpopular.
The whole process goes like this: whenever someone tries to log into your account from an unrecognized device, you’ll get a code on your phone, and that code must be typed in, in order to access the user’s profile. The code refreshes in a matter of seconds, so whoever is trying to log in, whether it’s you or a hacker, they better hurry it up.
HTTPS Instead Of HTTP
HTTPS is a type of a security protocol that’s a much safer version that HTTP. It’s used for encrypting your data and browser, and it’s always highly recommendable when it comes to online transactions and payments. Websites like that have a secure socket layer (SSL), which creates a secure channel that’s used for information flow.
Use a VPN
VPNs are probably one of the best and safest ways for you to browse the internet, and it can even protect you from phishing attacks. Many of the VPN packages are specially designed to block malware and similar threats that might want to hurt your device or steal your data, and, of course, the data encryption that comes with every one of the packages would take care of the rest. It can even mask your IP and make you untraceable, so you’ll know that you’re completely anonymous during your browsing sessions.
Here are some good VPNs to use:
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| Visit VPN Provider | Visit TorGuard | Visit PIA |
WebPage Reliability
You should pay close attention when it comes to the reliability of the websites you’re using. Hackers often create very similar pages to the ones you might be visiting, and when you try to log into them, the information you’ve inserted (email address and password) is theirs for the taking.
To be sure that you’re in the right place, you should check for the padlock on the top or the bottom of the webpage you’re visiting. Other than that, several websites might make your address bar turn green as the proof that you’re in the right place.
Anti-Spam Software
This is another method for reducing phishing attacks, and here, you can actually control your spam mail, and secure it yourself. This kind of software can also protect you when it comes to browser hijacking.
Suspicious Emails
Whenever you get an email with a hyperlink, never, and we repeat, never click on them. Especially not when it comes to unknown senders. It will probably be a phishing attack, and many malicious codes can be found on links like that. You might be asked for some personal information after you’ve reached the page the link’s sending you to, but as we’ve discussed earlier, this is just another attempt to scam you and steal your data.
Firewall
Last but not least, you should always make sure that your firewall is burning bright, because it can protect you from many attacks, including virus attacks, browser hijacks, and spyware. You’d want both network and desktop versions of a firewall because it checks all of the traffic, where it goes to and where it comes from, so that way, it can protect you from things that are not to be trusted.
In conclusion, phishing attacks are a real danger that might destroy your life, but only if you allow it to. Stay informed, take the steps from above and protect yourself, your devices and your data.
