Pro IT Services: Professional - Proactive - Proficient

PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff is scheduled for Wednesday, October 9th at 4 AM for much of Northern California. For planning purposes, PG&E suggests customers prepare for outages that could last several days. Please take appropriate actions to ensure the safety of your systems if you are in a targeted shutdown area. See if your area is affected here...

Types of Phishing Attacks: Whaling, Deceptive, Pharming

May 25th, 2019 by admin

Discrete hacker looking for vulnerable code

Phishing attacks occur when communication that appears to be reputable is fraudulent. These sorts of scams are made to extract personal and sensitive information from victims such as social security numbers, addresses, bank information, and more. People and businesses alike are targeted for these attacks, so it is essential that you and your team are aware of the types of phishing attacks that are out there.

  • Whaling is the act of going after CEOs and major executives due to them having access to high-level company information. This requires significant research on the criminal’s part but they mask their communications to appear as employee/client complaints, lawsuits, subpoenas or even the business's own IT department.
  • Deceptive Phishing, or mass-market emails. These are the most common form of phishing and is what many people have come in contact with. These emails are tailored to appear like they are from trusted senders like from major companies like American Express or UPS.
  • Pharming is a method of attack by directing a company’s traffic to a fake site. Pharming may start as a phishing attempt, by a sent email with an embedded code within it. Once interacted with, the spyware installed can then modify local host files, and access the DNS server. This is also referred to as a DNS attack or DNS Poisoning.

Having company-wide awareness and educating employees on email etiquette, what to look for, what not to send out through emails, and what to do in case of receiving phishing emails can prevent these kinds of attacks and ensure that not only your employees stay safe but also, your business. Ransomware and Advanced Persistent Threat (APTs) attacks usually stem from phishing attempts. Once one person is affected, it will likely affect the entire company. Another great way to stay protected is by having an excellent cybersecurity solution for your business. At ATS, we offer innovative malware and spyware solutions to keep your business protected from cybercrime. Learn more.

Tags: cyber security, email, ransomware, security threats, security

Posted in: Security

Categories

Archives