Welcome to the world of phishing attacks, where one wrong click can cost companies millions of dollars despite having a state of the art cybersecurity systems in place.
Over the past couple of years, with remote work becoming the new normal, these attacks have skyrocketed to all-time highs.
What are these phishing attacks?
Who are behind these attacks?
Who is responsible for that wrong click?
How can companies save millions with one easy step? We'll answer these burning questions and give you our recommendations in the subsequent sections. What is a Phishing Attack? Should I be worried?
Have you ever received an email from a Nigerian Prince who wants to give away all their wealth? Yep, that's what a phishing attack is. Scammers and other notorious hackers send fraudulent communications to entice people to either -
👉 Download Malware on your device. 👉 Provide credentials such as credit card information or employee credentials.
👉 Execute a wire transfer to a "friend". So, I need to stay away from this scam, and I'm safe, right? Nope, not so soon. Sometimes, these are created in such a way as to make it look like it's coming from a reputable source, such as a company like Amazon or Google. They can also impersonate a friend or family member by researching you and getting information from sources, including social media platforms. This is called Spear Phishing and is the most common and dangerous phishing attack since it takes advantage of your emotions rather than relying on the luck factor.
Scammers try to create a sense of urgency and panic using the victim's emotions. To answer the second question, no, you shouldn't be "worried". BUT, you need to be vigilant and aware when you're on the internet, especially while handling emails. Everyone is vulnerable to phishing attacks, whether you are using your company resources or your own systems.
Now that we've covered the basics, we'll pay specific attention to how it can affect businesses.
What are the Risks that Companies Face? For starters, phishing attacks usually are targeted toward corporate entities as they have more to lose.
A study conducted by Proofpoint in 2021 showcased just how unprepared they are for such attacks. (READ HERE) A shocking 83% of the organizations were victims of a successful phishing attack through emails of the employees. And that's where the cybersecurity risk is concentrated.
Why do we say that? We don't! But THIS study conducted by Verizon does. About 82% of all cybersecurity attacks and data breaches involve some kind of human element in it. And more specifically, around a whopping 25% of them are a result of phishing attacks alone. The main attack that a hacker performs is impersonating a company email ID to gain the credentials of a high-ranking employee and access sensitive data. Or they could download malware on the device.
Any breach of the organization's systems could be catastrophic for them.
An employee's misclick on the wrong email could cost the company a lot.
How Can Companies Save Millions? Now that we know the problem let's talk about the solution. It's an investment that needs to be made regularly and can save companies from hacks. Cybersecurity and Phishing Awareness training for the employees.
This training could teach employees how to identify phishing emails and prevent any subsequent attacks. Because the hackers usually use authentic-looking email IDs and company logos while carrying out such attacks.
They rely on the employee not cross-checking emails or reading the entire mail and just clicking on the bad link or downloading a malicious attachment.
It could also help the employees understand basic cybersecurity practices like setting up strong passwords and not sharing them over emails. A few other points that could prevent these phishing attacks are:
1. Thoroughly check the email ID of the sender and make sure you trust them.
2. Turn on Two Factor Authentication.
3. If the grammar is off and you're not addressed by name, it's a red flag because organizations would address you by your name or unique ID.
4. PAY ATTENTION to cybersecurity training!
And finally, you could use our MailToken product, which prevents phishing attacks. It uses email system authentication and biometrics to secure the accounts. More about it HERE.
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With remote work being adopted across several companies and phishing attacks increasing by the day, training employees about cybersecurity has become non-negotiable.
The attacks and data breaches can be reduced significantly with more awareness.
Either way, we'll be around, simplifying cybersecurity for everyone!