When launching a website on the best dedicated servers people normally don’t concern themselves with becoming a victim of a phishing attack. So when they have accidentally fallen into a trap of some sort of cyber criminality scheme, it rings alarming bells. According to the Canadian government, more than 800,000 emails are clicked up by individuals which eventually leads to phishing email success.
An innocent recipient always becomes a victim by clicking on the link and ending up sharing personal information. It’s one of the reasons why we believe you and your employees must follow the best practices outlined by your cybersecurity service provider. But before we get into the details on how to secure your server from a phishing scam, let’s understand what a phishing scam basically looks like.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a type of socially engineered attack. In this particular type of attack, the attacker deceives the recipient into believing that they are about to click on confidential information. Normally, this information is a fabricated text which is concealed as an information coming from a known business, banks, insurance company or some form of government agency.
An example of this can best be considered from someone who sends out an email from Microsoft Office 365. In such a situation, a person is led to believe they can share their personal information such as their passwords. It eventually drives the person to a fake web page which looks exactly like the original one and the hacker cheats you on extracting your confidential information.
How Should One Stay on the Top of Things When Phishing Incidents Are Common?
There are a few practices which everyone must follow when it comes to phishing scams.
They include the following:
Vigilance - Firstly, when you receive an email from a legitimate business or a company, they will never ask you to share your personal information such as your email and passwords. If they are encouraging you to enter such information using the login credentials through an email or over the phone, then it raises a red flag and makes you wonder what is the most appropriate option.
When you receive such an email, it’s best that you contact them through a traditional way and confirm with them if the email is a legitimate one. If not, then it’s best you stay away from such an email.
Beware of “From” - Most email phishing attacks take place where emailers disguise themselves as a legitimate business. Here’s a tactic that is most commonly used by individuals to trick an employee into believing the email is coming from a reliable source. For instance, if let’s say there’s a Josh Harpman working at your office & you receive an email from him, what will be your response?
You will certainly go ahead and click on the email. And if there’s an important attachment in the form of a company document, what will you do? You will eventually click on it which can create a doorway for the scammer. So when clicking on emails, check if the recipient’s name is the correct one.
One way is through sending a message to the person following up if they actually sent something.
Duplicated Domains - Here’s another mistake that individuals often make. They end up clicking on the link without checking the email address of the sender. In situations as discussed, hackers normally like to cheat the system and in order to do that, they often use misspelt domain names. If you have an appropriate firewall installed, the chances of diminishing the attack becomes highly effective.
It’s best that you do check for duplicated domains before proceeding any further.
Beware of Attachments - We all have a bad habit of clicking up on unwanted attachments. When we perform unwanted downloads from unknown websites, we realize that it can contain malicious software which can put the security of your system at significant risk. So it’s best to always remember that downloading an attachment might not be much of a great idea when it comes to investments.
How to Effectively Deal with a Phishing Attack?
What to do when you as an employee at an organization experience a phishing attack? What possible security measures canyou take to ensure your IT infrastructure remains safe & secure?
Firstly, add the sender to a list of blocked senders. Some other things which you can do to avoid becoming a victim of a phishing scam can include,
Establish a dedicated channel for phishing emails so once when you receive them, you can safely transfer them to that particular channel without clicking on the link.
Inform your manager or supervisor about receiving a phishing email and take possible security measures to protect your company from experiencing similar attacks.
Get in touch with a vulnerability management program manager who can protect your organization from all such similar attacks in the near future.
Phishing is a common incident that many organizations often have to experience. Many people can easily fall victim of that. When that happens, it’s best you take the most effective measures to combat such socially engineered cyberattacks. Here’s where employee training becomes essential.
Having a common knowledge on phishing attacks is what can keep your business risk-free & secure. It’s best that you stay in touch with an IT professional who can help avoid the scam in the future.