Cybersecurity Awareness Week 2: Three Fundamentals for Shoring Up Phishing Defenses

This post is leveraged from the CSAM Champions resources and is recommended to be provided to end users.

From ransomware to SolarWinds, the cyber threat landscape has been as hectic as it has ever been over the last 12-24 months. However, for all of the emerging threats and news that are cropping up on the horizon, phishing – one of the oldest pain points in cybersecurity – is continuing to wreak havoc, and is as big of a threat as it has ever been.

Despite often being overlooked in terms of hype, phishing has been a mainstay in the cybersecurity threat landscape for decades. In fact, 43 percent of cyberattacks in 2020 featured phishing or pre-texting, while 74 percent of US organizations experienced a successful phishing attack last year alone. That means that phishing is one of the most dangerous “action varieties” to an organization’s cybersecurity health. As a result, the need for proper anti-phishing hygiene and best practices is an absolute must.

With that in mind, here are a few quick “think before you click” best practices and tips for dealing with phishing threats.

Know the Red Flags. Phishers are masters of making their content and interactions appealing. From content design to language, it can be difficult to discern whether content is genuine or a potential threat, which is why it is so important to know the red flags. Awkward and unusual formatting, overly explicit call outs to click a hyperlink or open an attachment, and subject lines that create a sense of urgency are all hallmarks that the content you received could be potentially from phish and indicate that it should be handled with caution.

Verify the Source. Phishing content comes in a variety of forms. However, many phishers will try to impersonate someone you may already know – such as a colleague, service provider or friend – as a way to trick you into believing their malicious content is trustworthy. Don’t fall for it. If you sense any red flags that something may be out of place or unusual, reach out directly to the individual via previously established out-of-band methods to confirm whether the content is authentic and safe. Otherwise, break-off communication immediately and report the incident through the proper channels. It’s better to be latent with something legitimate, than hasty with a hoax.

Be Aware of Vishing and Other Phishing Offshoots. As more digital natives have come online and greater awareness has been spread about phishing, bad actors have begun to diversify their phishing efforts beyond traditional email. For example, voice phishing – or vishing – has become a primary alternative for bad actors looking to gain sensitive information from unsuspecting individuals. Similar to conventional phishing, vishing is typically executed by individuals posing as a legitimate organization asking for sensitive information. Simply put, it is imperative that individuals be wary of any sort of communication that asks for personal information whether it be via email, phone or chat – especially if the communication is unexpected. If anything seems suspicious, again, break-off the interaction immediately and contact the company directly to confirm the veracity of the communications.

Phishing may be “one of the oldest tricks in the book,” but it is still incredibly effective. And although it may be hard to spot when you may be in the midst of a phishing attempt, by exercising caution and deploying these few fundamentals, individuals and organizations more broadly can drastically mitigate the chances of falling victim to a phishing attack.

Finally, in the interest of this week’s CSAM theme, here are several more resources to review and share with your users to help “Fight the Phish”:

• 6 Common Phishing Attacks and How to Protect Against Them (Tripwire)
• How do we Know about New Phishing Attacks? Because Some Human Reported It. (SecurityWeek)
• How to Prevent Business Email Compromise Attacks (Agari)
• Analyzing Email Services Abused for Business Email Compromise (Trend Micro)
• Cybersecurity Month: Defense Against Phishing Attacks (PCI Security Standards Council)
• Phishing campaign uses math symbols to evade detection (Bleeping Computer)