Spear Phishing attempt of data theft

Spear phishing is a special form of attack derived from traditional phishing that occurs with extremely malicious intent such as a cyber attack. In a traditional phishing attack, the target randomly lands on the attacker’s grid. In a spear phishing attack, the victim is sometimes spied on for weeks or months. During this period, habits and preferences are learned. This is for create a personal database of the victim. Based on this carefully collected data, the phishing attacks are carried out. These are always related to the victims and that is why they can be so dangerous.

On numerous occasions, these attacks are launched by hackers and government sponsored cyber activists. Cybercriminals do the same with the intention of reselling confidential data to governments and private companies. These cybercriminals employ individually designed approaches and social engineering techniques to effectively personalize messages and websites. As a result, even high-level targets within organizations, such as senior executives, can end up opening emails that they thought were safe, leading to dangerous risk.

Traditional security measures are often not enough to stop these attacks because they are so intelligently tailored. Consequently, they are becoming more difficult to detect. The error of an employee can have serious consequences for companies, governments and even non-profit organizations and that is why we will see how to protect ourselves against this type of attack.

▸Ignore email notifications requesting the release of confidential data.

Neither a financial institution or a service provider would ever ask their customers to reveal personal information via email. The same applies to highly questionable posts or supposedly harmless links from so-called acquaintances from social media.

▸Use social media with caution

Perhaps you have already seen a post on a notice board on Twitter or Facebook that contained personal data. Here are the most curious cases. From the publication of a driver’s license to the disclosure of a bank statement, there is everything, even photos can be harmless, they can be information for criminals, so be aware of how to use your social network.

▸Professional protection measures

Yes… security comes primarily from oneself, however, from a technical point of view, it also makes sense to introduce an IT security concept that offers businesses powerful protection against spear phishing attacks.

Related reads:
Types of phishing to be careful about
Services most used by Phishing
Smishing , Beware of fake SMS

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