TOP 3 

In today’s digital world, phishing attacks continue to be one of the most prevalent threats to organizations. This brief highlights the top three phishing attacks—how they work, how they evade security, and how to defend against them to protect your business and employees.

What is Phishing?
Phishing is a technique hackers use to impersonate a trustworthy entity through email. The attackers often send fraudulent emails designed to obtain sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, or banking credentials. They typically distribute malicious links or attachments, tricking users into downloading malware or ransomware. These attacks are sent in large quantities to both business users and consumers, hoping that only a small percentage will fall victim to them.

How to Block Phishing Attacks
To block phishing attacks, organizations should implement anti-phishing solutions that use a combination of techniques. First, these solutions check the reputation of both the domain and the sender. Additionally, they examine whether the sender or any links in the email have been used in previous phishing campaigns. Furthermore, these solutions scan websites for malicious downloads and add link protection to block any links that could become malicious over time. They also compare the email body with previously flagged malicious messages to identify any suspicious content.

What is Spear Phishing?
Unlike mass phishing attacks, spear phishing is much more targeted. Attackers carefully research a specific individual within an organization to craft a highly personalized email message. These attacks are often sent in smaller numbers to the selected individuals, coming from high-reputation sender addresses or already compromised accounts. The emails usually contain zero-day links, which are new and haven’t been flagged by security systems yet. As a result, these highly effective spear-phishing attacks are designed to steal credentials or install malware on devices.

How to Block Spear Phishing attacks?
Spear phishing attacks often bypass traditional security gateways that rely on domain reputation, blacklists, and known malicious payloads. To block spear phishing, security solutions need to include intelligent, context-aware technology. This technology analyzes email content for anomalies, such as mismatches between sender identity and email address, suspicious phrases commonly used in phishing attacks, and odd links that don’t fit the context of the email.

What is Business Email Compromise (BEC)?
Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks, also known as CEO fraud or whaling, target employees within an organization to defraud the company, its employees, customers, or partners. These attacks typically focus on individuals with access to sensitive financial or personal data, tricking them into performing wire transfers or disclosing confidential information. Unlike traditional phishing attacks, BEC attacks often don’t include attachments or links, instead relying on socially engineered tactics and compromised accounts.

How to Block BEC?
Similar to spear phishing, relying solely on an email gateway is not enough to block BEC. To successfully detect and block BEC, organizations need advanced technology that goes beyond static rules. A solution that analyzes historical communication patterns and provides visibility into internal email communications can greatly enhance detection. This helps organizations identify BEC attacks or account takeovers more accurately, allowing for faster response and protection.

Barracuda Solutions for Phishing, Spear Phishing
and Business Email Compromise

Comprehensive, elegantly simple protection against phishing and other
email-borne threats for your users, brand, and business.

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