WOULD ANY OF YOUR STAFF ACTUALLY CLICK THAT LINK?
Phishing is one of the biggest threats to your business’s cyber security. It’s where criminals send an email pretending to be someone else, such as an important vendor, your bank, or someone else you might trust. They’re trying to get someone to click a bad link, which can open the door to install malicious software. Or worse, let them into your network to prepare a ransomware attack, where your data is encrypted until you pay for its return.
3.4 billion phishing emails are sent every day. And 75% of businesses across the globe have experienced a phishing attack.
Today we will look at some phishing trends going into 2022, but before we do, let’s quickly run through a few basic red flags to look for in a phishing email:
- Phishing emails will generally have a sense of urgency and/or be highly emotional.
- They are likely to contain grammar and spelling mistakes.
- They might contain suspicious attachments or links.
- The domain name in the email address might be misspelled containing extra letters or numbers.
Now that we know what to look for, let’s dive into trends that are becoming increasingly popular in 2022.
EMAIL ACCOUNT COMPROMISE
Whenever a bad actor successfully compromises an email account, phishing becomes much easier and more effective. Especially when the person that has been compromised is in higher up in the company.
This is particularly dangerous because employees will recognize the person and the email address will be accurate, making it easy to believe that whatever is in the email came from inside the organization. A good rule of thumb, is to reach out to the person that has sent you the email if it contains anything that you wouldn’t normally expect to get from the individual.
SMISHING (SMS PHISHING)
Text messages are being used for phishing now more than ever. This is because texting has become such a standard way to receive things such as shipping notifications, order confirmations, etc. Many employees are trained to be on their toes with emails, but smishing is a lesser-known threat, and you should apply the same phishing logic to smishing.
TARGETED PHISHING AIMED AT SMALLER COMPANIES
Targeted phishing attacks, or “Spear Phishing”, uses a more personalized approach than a general phishing attack.
This type of attack used to be more common in larger companies, but now there are more tools at the attacker’s disposal with AI and automation to make it easier to gather the information needed to pull off a spear-phishing attack. This means they can justify spending this effort to target both small and large companies.
As we move into the new year, keep your guard up and remember that if something seems off, there’s a good chance it is.
WHO IS RUNBIZ?
Run Business Solutions is an IT managed services and website services provider based in Amarillo, TX. We support small to mid-sized businesses both regionally and throughout the country. We pride ourselves on helping businesses leverage technology, not just tolerate it. Runbiz is focused on enthusiastically providing excellent technical strategy, services, and solutions that drive our customers' businesses forward. We are passionate about our mission to empower you to do what you do best.
To learn more about our approach to IT, visit our Managed IT or Co-Managed IT pages. If you are looking to revamp your website to look and perform better, visit our website services for more information.
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