Spear phishing is an email or electronic-based scam targeting a specific individual, company or business. Victims’ attention is usually grabbed by using clever. These attackers use individually designed techniques and social techniques to make these messages look more personalized efficiently. As the messages are personalized, even the top executives or senior management can get caught in these attacks. Hackers take advantage of the data by stealing it, which is quite dangerous for the organization.
Protect yourself!
Traditional security cannot stop these attacks, as these attackers are clever enough. Hence, these cybercriminal attacks become more difficult to identify. One employee’s mistake can seriously affect businesses, governments, and nonprofit organizations. Attackers use this stolen data to reveal commercially sensitive information and commit illegal acts that might be deadly for an organization. Spear phishing attacks can deploy malware to hijack computers, organizing them into networks called botnets used for DOS attacks(Denial of Service).
To avoid spear phishing attacks, we all need to be well aware of possible threats, such as fake emails landing in our inboxes. Email security plays an important role and should be a top priority. The next step is to make employees realize the importance of these attacks and help them get the necessary knowledge and training.
Botnet?
Botnet's name comes from 2 words – “robot” and “network”. As the name clearly says, this robot-based bot tool automates massive attacks and tries to destroy/leak an organisation’s confidential/sensitive data. This may result in server crashing and malware distribution
The basic steps which a botnet uses are :
- Prepare and Expose: Cybercriminals exploit a vulnerability to expose users
- Infect the device: Devices get infected with malware that leads to taking control of their device.
- Activate: Cybercriminals use infected devices to carry out deadly attacks.
Hence, we must be extremely alert regarding spear phishing, including botnets.
Some common examples include:
- Hackers or cyber criminals who claim to be the CEO could trick the finance head into sending money to their bank account if they successfully obtain their IDs.
- Fake invoices /bills are an example of a trick used to gain payable employee accounts, which sends money to
attackers. - The email sender shows himself as a professional person, stating that the account is about to expire and asks to open a link to change the password, which is redirected to their links, which leads to dangerous attacks.
Any request to donate or send money to a specific group that is not validated correctly can be a strategy/sign of spear phishing. We all must be alert and take steps considering everything in mind. The best practice is to always validate the invoice before paying any invoice. These attackers use actual vendor names with fake IDs to trick people.