anti phishing software to protect against sophisticated phishing attacks
DESCRIPTION
Phishing refers to the social engineering tactics used to acquire sensitive details like passwords, usernames, credit card details, social security numbers, and bank account numbers from people.TRANSCRIPT
Anti Phishing Software to protect against Sophisticated Phishing Attacks
Phishing refers to the social engineering tactics used to acquire sensitive details like passwords,
usernames, credit card details, social security numbers, and bank account numbers from people.
Phishing is of different types such as spear phishing, clone phishing, rock phishing, whaling and so on.
The phishers trick people to divulge their most closely guarded details by appearing to be someone they
trust or create a situation where the victims have no other choice but to give in. Though there are
phishing protection solutions available most people do not deem it necessary as they consider
themselves smart and intelligent enough to see through the tricks.
Phones and the Internet are the two mediums used by the phishers to put their devious plans into
action. Phishers make use of several techniques to con people. Let’s look at the most widely used
techniques to get an understanding of the highly sophisticated world of the phishers.
Email/Spam Phishing
In this type of phishing, phishers use emails to dupe people. The phishers send emails to unassuming
people claiming to be sent by the bank or any other reputed institution. The email would request the
recipient to fill up certain details or provide some critical information like password or bank account
number. Since the emails are designed in such a way that the recipients would have no doubt regarding
its authenticity, most people fall into the trap. Hence, they reply to the emails thereby losing their
money as well as identity. Sometimes the email would contain details of getting a credit card with a low
interest rate. The phishers would provide a link for logging in so that the recipient can apply for the
credit card. The link would take the recipient to a bogus site that asks for details like bank account
number or social security numbers.
Phone Phishing
Phone phishing is the latest tactic used by the phishers, as the success rate of duping people with phone
calls is very much greater when compared to email phishing. In phone phishing, the recipient would get
a phone call from a trusted organization such as a bank or a federal agency asking for information to
authenticate a bank account or credit card. Sometimes the phishers inform the recipients that there had
been a phishing attack leading to the locking of their accounts and hence require the recipients’
personal details to verify the account.
Social Networking Phishing
Phishers make use of the information provided in the social networking sites to swindle money. They
steal the identity of a person and use it to send links of fake websites to those in the victim’s contact list.
Sometimes they use the stolen identity to get passwords to online gaming accounts, passwords of ATM
cards, credit card numbers and so on.
Today phishing is quite a serious problem as it affects not only people but also the very organization that
the victims work for. They can target unsuspecting employees to access the critical company details.
However, protection from phishing is possible thanks to anti phishing tool that help companies to
enhance their security levels through comprehensive user behavioral analysis.