Phishing attacks are the most common cybercrime because, point blank, they are effective. Every day, more than 3.4 billion spam emails reach unsuspecting users’ inboxes. Phishing scams are easy to create, scale, and continue to trick people. AI tools can now help cybercriminals draft emails that seemingly come from real folks, not bots or scammers. If you’re not vigilant, phishing scams can have serious consequences.
Since it’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we created this simple guide to help you and your team successfully identify phishing emails and understand why it’s so important to do so. Here are 4 significant dangers associated with phishing attacks:
- Data Breaches: Phishing attacks can expose your organization’s sensitive information to cybercriminals and then hackers can sell it on the dark web or hold it for ransom. Which, if we’re being honest, most of the time, if you were to pay the ransom, you’d still lose your data. This can result in financial and legal repercussions, damage to your reputation and loss of customer trust.
- Financial Loss: Cybercriminals often use phishing e-mails to steal money directly from businesses. Whether it’s through fraudulent invoices or unauthorized transactions, falling victim to phishing can have a direct impact on your bottom line.
- Malware Infections: Phishing emails can contain malicious attachments or links that, when clicked, can infect your systems with malware. This can disrupt your operations, lead to data loss and require costly remediation efforts.
- Compromised Accounts: When employees fall for phishing scams, their accounts can be compromised too. Attackers can then use these accounts to launch further attacks or gain unauthorized access to sensitive company data.
But, the good news is that there are actions you can take to prevent becoming the next victim of a phishing attack.
S.E.C.U.R.E.(ly) Identify Phishing
Here is the S.E.C.U.R.E. Method you and your employees can use to help identify phishing emails.
- S – SUBJECT LINE: Does the subject line look good? (e.g., “FWD: FWD: FWD: review immediately”)
- E – EXAMINE THE EMAIL ADDRESS: Do you know this person? Does the email address look unusual? (e.g., spelled differently)
- C – CONSIDER THE GREETING: Is the salutation unusual or generic? (e.g., “Hello Ma’am!” or even “Hello Sir” – when that’s not your appropriate greeting)
- U – UNPACK THE MESSAGE: Are they impatient to get you to click a link or download an attachment or act on a too-good-to-be-true offer?
- R – REVIEW FOR ERRORS: Are there grammatical mistakes or odd misspellings?
- E – EVALUATE LINKS AND ATTACHMENTS: Hover over links before you click them to check the address, and do not open attachments from anyone you don’t know or weren’t expecting to receive mail from.
Get A Second Opinion!
It’s also important to have a cybersecurity expert monitor your network and eliminate e-mail spam before your employees can make a mistake. Make sure you’re taking proper precautions to protect your network. These phishing attacks work and happen all the time. We don’t want YOU to be the next victim.
If you need help training your team on cybersecurity best practices or implementing a robust cybersecurity system, or just want a second set of eyes to examine what you currently have in place and assess if there are any vulnerabilities, we are ready to help. Call us at 888-500-9111 or click here to book a call with our team.
If you’re ready to hand off your IT to a reliable team of experts, our sibling company, Atlantic Technology Services, is ready to manage your network so you can focus on growing your business. Schedule a consultation to see what your next steps could look like. Our experts will dig into your system and processes and determine what technology needs updating so your business can run smoother and be more productive. To book a consultation, call 410-860-9899 or click here.
