In the Net of Phishing: How to Protect Yourself and Your Business

Phishing attacks increase significantly around the holidays, as cybercriminals take advantage of people's increased online presence, shopping habits and the rush they often experience.

A phishing attack is a type of cyber-attack in which the attacker uses deception to obtain sensitive information from the victim. Attackers use fake messages (e-mails, SMS, social media messages) or spoofed websites to trick the victim into voluntarily providing that information. The aim is to obtain the personal or credit card details of customers.

The most common types of phishing attacks:

• Deceptive messages: messages often appear to be official and come from a seemingly trustworthy source (such as a bank, government institution or well-known service provider).
• Urgent or threatening messages are often urgent, for example requesting immediate action or threatening you with consequences.
• Fake links: links lead to fake websites that are almost perfect copies of the original sites.
• Phishing: The purpose of the site is to trick the victim into providing sensitive information (e.g. login details, credit card information).

How can we defend ourselves against attacks?

1. Check the sender: make sure the email is from a genuine source.
2. Do not click on suspicious links: hover your mouse cursor over the link and look at the URL before clicking.
3. Use two-factor authentication: this gives you extra security to access your data.
4. Update your software: Keep your browser and security software up to date.
5. Do not give sensitive information in messages: banks and official organizations will never ask for sensitive information in an email or message.

Recognizing phishing attacks and being vigilant are essential steps to staying digitally safe.

Corporate IT security awareness

Phishing attacks are not only affecting individuals, but also putting companies at serious risk, as corporate data is extremely valuable and a frequent target for cybercriminals.

As we become more aware of threats as individuals, it is essential for companies to proactively prepare their employees for these challenges. SOCWISE's experts can help you to do this effectively: through targeted education and simulated phishing attacks, they can improve employees' IT security awareness.

How can it impact the life of your company if you provide personal or corporate information?

• Access to the employee's company e-mail
  • which may contain a lot of sensitive data, including passwords to external systems, which may also be accessible
  • have access to the real email addresses of partners and customers
  • further targeted phishing emails can be sent via the employee's work email address, where the sender and recipient may already have a trust relationship and will be less likely to pay attention to the scam.
• They can log into company's systems and access additional data using the employee's access.
• IT Admin colleagues can pose a particularly high risk, because with their privileges they can immediately plant malicious code in corporate's systems, which can stop the company's business for days or weeks, causing incalculable damage.
• Managers, C-level executives, are also a risk, because they have approval authority, so a payment can go out of the company.
• Reputational damage is not insignificant (customer confidence, image, share price falls).

Corporate defense against cybercriminals

During the simulation process, our experts implement customized attack scenarios via campaign management platforms. A deception plan developed with the client, precise timing and measurable results ensure that the campaign replicates real attack scenarios as closely as possible. Through targeted email templates and carefully constructed landing pages, employees can experience risky situations, allowing them to recognize danger signals in real life.

The results of the campaigns are constantly monitored, and we provide a detailed analysis in the administration interface of how employees are responding. This data gives us an accurate picture of the company's security awareness and helps us to further strengthen the company's IT security preparedness through targeted actions.

In addition to education and internal phishing campaigns, company's data security is important:

• the backup
• advanced email and endpoint protection
• existence of an incident response plan
• minimum entitlements principle

Why is a phishing campaign beneficial for customers?

Proper education and simulation exercises can reduce the risk of employees clicking on suspicious links or leaking sensitive company data. SOCWISE's experts not only provide technical support, but also help you manage threats with complex solutions tailored to your business objectives. The result: a more prepared organization, where security-conscious employees actively contribute to protect the company's data and reputation. The long-term goal is to create a security culture that responds effectively not only to the challenges of today, but also to the threats of tomorrow.