Nowadays, phishing with its digital era is a common and harmful hazard of internet users. They are fraudulent schemes meant to extort personal data, credit card information or usernames and passwords under the guise of being genuine institutions, mostly in the form of spoof emails, text messages or websites. This paper shall discuss the general tricks employed in phishing schemes, give practical examples of such schemes, and present practical suggestions that can aid you to detect and evade these types of computer attacks.
What is Phishing?
Phishing
Phishing is a type of cybercrime in which attackers will be posing as legitimate organizations or individuals to deceive victims to give them sensitive information, including usernames, passwords, or credit card information. The word phishing gets its name after the term fishing because computer crooks apply the counterfeited lures (emails, links or messages) to bait unsuspecting victims. Fall prey to phishing scams may lead to identity theft to loss of money, and it is thus important to be on the go and abreast with this.
Real-Life Case: The PayPal Phishing Scam.
The most widespread one is the use of a legitimate company that has been imitated, including PayPal. The email that the victims get might seem as though it is sent by PayPal and it states that their account is temporarily blocked because of suspicious activity. The mail usually has a link to a counterfeit PayPal login page, into which the user is made to key their account information. As a matter of fact, the page is created to steal those credentials to enable the attacker to log into the PayPal account of the victim and rob money.
Common Phishing Tactics
Phishing scams employ different methods to control their victims and deceive them. These techniques are among the methods through which you can safeguard yourself against such attacks and the first is by understanding the tricks used.
Fake Emails and Messages
One of the most popular points of entry of cybercriminals is usually phishing emails. These emails may appear extremely official, in many cases with official logos, analogous email addresses and vernacular lingo. Most of them purport to belong to financial institutions, government agencies or common online websites.
Red Flags:
- Address of suspect sender: Determine whether email address is within official domain of the company or not. As an example, the address in a PayPal email must have the name of paypal at the end of the address.
- Exigency or threats: Phishing emails also tend to induce an effect of urgency e.g. that your account will be locked unless action is taken immediately. The strategy puts pressure on victims into rushed decisions.
- Grammatical mistakes: A lot of phishing emails include typing mistakes, clumsy sentences or wrong grammar. Well structured communication is normally posted by reputable companies.
Cyber attacks in the form of malicious links and attachments.
Phishing attacks often contain links which seem to go to a reputable web site but in fact they redirect to harmful sites. Such bogus websites can resemble the actual sites but they are meant to steal your log in details or infect your computer with viruses.
Red Flags:
- Hover over links: Before clicking any link, ensure you hover your mouse pointer on it to obtain its real URL. In case the address does not look genuine or matches with the anticipated domain (e.g., paypal-security.com rather than paypal.com), the color is red.
- Attachment surprises: When you get an unsolicited email and it is attached, then do not open it without being certain who the sender is.
Fake Websites
Phishing attacks may also include the development of rogue sites that re-create the semblance and appearance of authentic sites. These websites can have counterfeit log in pages or request confidential details like credit cards or other Social Security cards.
Red Flags:
- Check the URL: Never forget to check the URL displayed at the address bar. Authentic sites have HTTPS and they show a lock icon. Watch out on web sites with odd domain names or minor spelling errors.
- Check the existence of an encryption that is the use of an SSL: When providing personal information, make sure that the site employs an encryption of the use of an SSL. An HTTPS site will display a padlock icon in front of the URL (e.g. https:/www.example.com).
Social Engineering and One-on-One Attacks.
Social engineering is a psychological trick that involves the attacker using human trust to obtain information or influence the victims to do a certain action. Social engineering based phishing attacks are frequently perceived as personalized and thus difficult to detect.
Real Life Case Study: The CEO Fraud Scam.
A hacker in this kind of scam identifies as a CEO of a company or any other senior executive and sends an email to the staff members asking them to send money or personal documents. The email can be persuasive due to the use of common language, office language and even the title of the executive. It is one of the cases of a personalized phishing attack, which also applies social engineering to win the trust of the victim.
Red Flags:
- Red flags with respect to financial transfer requests: Be wary of an urgent email or message asking you to transfer some money, particularly when it appears not to be in character of the person requesting it.
- Inequal tone or behavior: When an individual that you are used to dealing with suddenly appears to be acting out of character (e.g., he or she requires personal information or money), ensure the request by calling upon official channels.
How to Detect and Prevent Phishing Scams.
Having mentioned some of the most common phishing strategies, now we will consider the actionable techniques that help you to defend against these types of scams.
Always Verify the Source
Never do any act without first verifying the origin of the message, be it clicking on links or giving out any personal information. In case of an unsolicited email, dial the company or access the official site of the company to check the request.
- Communication channels with check officials: It is impossible that legitimate companies will request sensitive information by means of unsolicited emails or text messages. If you are in doubt of any such request, always call the company using their official numbers or email addresses of their customer services.
- Go online to official sites: When you receive the phishing email, you should not follow the link and instead enter the address to the official site in the address bar of your web browser.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
One of the most effective methods of ensuring that your online accounts are not hacked is to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA also increases the level of security by making you undergo a second authentication (a code that is sent to your phone, among other things) on top of the password.
- Turn on the MFA of the key accounts: Activate MFA on email, social media, and banking accounts. This will assist in keeping your sensitive information safe despite the theft of your passwords.
Moisten Your Software.
The old software may have security weaknesses which can be used by hackers. Always keep your operating system, web browser and antivirus software and applications updated.
- Apply security patches: Although many phishing attacks exploit software vulnerabilities. Periodically update your systems to keep them safe.
- Install antivirus software: Antivirus software is able to identify and prevent phishing websites and malicious emails which is an added defence.
Learn by Yourself and Be Informed.
The better you are informed on the phishing scams, the better you will be prepared to detect and avoid them. Keep abreast with the current trends and tricks of phishing by subscribing to cybersecurity blogs, newsletters, and news sources.
- Be aware of emerging phishing mechanisms: Phishing frauds are constantly being upgraded, and one should also be aware of the current developments.
- Be aware of phishing indicators: Learn the signs listed above, this way you can be more readily aware of phishing.
Conclusion
Phishing attacks are becoming a major problem to both individuals and companies. Nevertheless, risk of falling prey to such attacks can be reduced with the appropriate knowledge and strategies. You can withstand cybercriminals by keeping an eye on your personal and financial information by checking sources, maintaining good security habits, and being aware of them. Always keep in mind that the first step is to be aware, do not be hooked by phishing scams!
