New research this week has given warning to employees to be on alert to emails seemingly from human resources (HR) as they could be fraudulent. In fact, the findings from KnowBe4’s latest phishing report has highlighted that fraudulent HR emails remain a prevalent tactic employed by cybercriminals.
Such deceptive emails may encompass subjects like alterations in dress code policies, updates on training sessions, changes in vacation policies, or a wide range of other topics.
These deceptive tactics prove effective as they often prompt individuals to react impulsively, bypassing logical scrutiny of the email’s legitimacy. Consequently, they possess the potential to disrupt both an employee’s personal life and professional workday, as cautioned by the company.
Holiday Season Phishing Emails
With the year now on the doorstep of ‘Holiday Season’, hackers will also use this time of year to craft phishing messages centered around seasonal events. Notably, four out of the top five email subjects during the quarter were related to Halloween. Furthermore, phishing emails concerning IT and online service notifications, as well as those associated with tax matters, consistently yield favorable results.
Moreover, KnowBe4 also found nearly one in three users are inclined to click on a suspicious link or comply with a fraudulent request.
Cybersecurity is not the sole responsibility of cybersecurity staff, but rather of everyone in an organisation. While there is a shortage of cybersecurity staff it’s important that employees are aware of the dangers out there and be the human firewall to secure data.