How to Protect Your Organization From Phishing
Phishing is the use of fake emails and other online methods to trick people into giving up personal information. This information can be used to steal passwords and access other accounts, to steal identities or to sell on underground markets. It is the most common attack vector for data breaches. At the enterprise level, a successful phishing attack can have devastating consequences that can include lost money or corporate funds, stolen confidential data and a permanent damage to an organization’s reputation.
Email phishing is the most popular way hackers target employees, but they can also exploit social media and text messaging apps as well. Social media phishing, or smishing, involves scammers using the built-in message capabilities of platforms like Facebook Messenger, LinkedIn InMail and Twitter DMs to target their victims. Attackers can pose as users requesting help with logging into an account or as someone who has won a contest. They can also impersonate high-level executives or other individuals in your organization and ask for money or credentials.
The best protection against phishing is to have well-trained employees who are aware of the threats and how to recognize these attacks. Other preventative measures include keeping software and devices up to date with security patches and enabling multifactor authentication (MFA) wherever possible. Finally, don’t respond to phishing attempts. Even a single reply confirms that an attacker has your address active and can embolden them to continue targeting you. Instead, report any suspicious messages to your IT team for evaluation and escalation.