Today, phishing is the fastest growing Internet crime, and a threat to both consumers and businesses.
Finance, technology, and telecom brands were the most commonly impersonated industries, notably for the unprecedented access and financial benefit that bank accounts, email and social media, and phone companies can give attackers, according to Cloudflare.
The challenge of phishing URLs
By masquerading as a reputable source – sometimes with an enticing request, other times with a severe consequence – an attacker lures in the victim in order to trick them, similarly to how a fisherman uses bait to catch a fish.
Oftentimes, these attempts come in the form of an email, text message, or mistyped website URL that looks like it’s from a well-known brand, but is actually a malicious party.
“Phishing attacks prey on our trust in the brands we love and use everyday, and are becoming more difficult to spot for even the most digitally-savvy person. Our sanity, bank accounts, and passwords shouldn’t be compromised because we glossed over a misspelled ‘from’ field or accidentally clicked on an obscure URL,” said Matthew Prince, CEO, Cloudflare.
Costly phishing attacks
Technology and telecom companies are a unique threat because phishing attacks can intercept the emails and text messages that are used to verify a user’s identity via two-factor authentication. Therefore, these phishing attempts can lead to other accounts being compromised as well.
“Because we put so much trust into these big names and the communications that come out of them, all too many of us can be tricked into lowering our defenses and falling victim to costly phishing attacks. One of the best ways people and businesses can reduce their exposure to these attacks is through email security tools that handle domain authentication,” Gerasim Hovhannisyan, CEO at EasyDMARC told Help Net Security.