Phishing: What You Need To Know To Protect Your Business Records
If you think phishing is a misspelled version of fishing, your business may be in danger of cyberattacks. That's because phishing is a cybercriminal's chosen method of stealing vital information from you and your employees. It used to be that phishing was utilized by backroom hackers looking for a way to gather information from a few people here and there. Today, phishing is organized crime committed by high-tech criminals to carry out large-scale attacks on the internet.
It doesn't take much to utilize spearphishing to wipe a company out. If your computers aren't properly protected against phishing expeditions, your business could be at risk. Here are three things you need to know about phishing.
Phishing Is Hard to Detect
When phishing first came on the scene, the method of infection was easy to detect. In most cases, the threat came from an email that was addressed from a Nigerian Prince, or another similar individual. However, phishers have advanced beyond the innocuous Nigerian Prince emails.
Phishers now do their homework to ensure that their emails are opened. They may monitor your business email accounts to determine the types of emails your employees usually receive. Once they have that information, they can customize emails to maximize the chances that your employees will open the infected files. For instance, phishers may now leave a message in the subject line that reflects information pertaining to specific projects or other information that would legitimize the email.
Phishing Can Intercept Your Business Emails
You find out your online business accounts have been compromised. In an attempt to rectify the problem, you send out emails to all of your employees and clients. Unfortunately, attackers are now able to intercept business emails. If that's happened, the warning you sent via email may be intercepted by the phishers, which means they can now also intercept any responses you receive from employees and clients. It also means that they can now create a mirror-image of your website and obtain passwords and financial information for all your customers.
Phishing Can Be Stopped
While phishing by cyber-criminals does pose a serious risk to your business, there is a way to stop the attacks. Threat detection software can provide maximum security for your electronic data. These programs provide maximum encryption capabilities and real-time monitoring to ensure that your online files are always protected.
If you own a business, you owe it to yourself and your clients to protect your online records. The information provided here will help you understand the threat surrounding phishing, as well as what you can do to protect yourself. Be sure to speak to your computer technician about other insider threat detection tools to protect your online records.