How to Mitigate Phishing Attacks: Techniques and Strategies

Phishing is today’s most prominent threat to organizations of all sizes and sectors. Some of the most damaging cyberattacks, like business email compromise (BEC), ransomware, and account takeover, use phishing as a precursor. More than 90% of cyberattacks start with a phishing email. Threat actors leverage phishing attacks to gain access to protected systems, networks, and data, which can lead to widespread damage for the victim organizations. That’s why learning about phishing mitigation is essential to stop cybercriminals in their tracks. Read on to learn about some of the ways to mitigate phishing attacks.

• What is phishing mitigation?

Phishing mitigation is a set of techniques and procedures to improve an organization’s resilience against phishing attacks. These techniques help organizations stop cyberattacks from breaching an organization’s defenses.

• Phishing Mitigation Techniques:

Phishing mitigation is a set of techniques and procedures to improve an organization’s resilience against phishing attacks. These techniques help organizations stop cyberattacks from breaching an organization’s defenses.

• Be Vigilant of Phishing Red Flags:

Here are some common phishing red flags organizations and employees should look for to prevent security breaches.

1. Generic subject or message: Most phishing campaigns are designed to trap many people, so the subject lines are primarily generic. While interacting with emails, users should always check whether the message contains a generic subject and greeting. If the generic email is from an unknown source, there is a high probability that it is a phishing email.
2. Poor spelling or grammar: Users should have their guard up if they find grammatical errors and spelling mistakes in an email. Many observers believe scammers intentionally use typos to weed out recipients too bright to fall for the phish. Their goal is to trap unsuspecting and innocent victims. Sometimes, spelling mistakes are also used to bypass email security filters.
3. Unknown senders: Almost every phishing attempt is from an unknown sender, so users should be cautious when interacting with an email from someone they don’t know. An email from an unknown sender is often spam, and users should always report it.
4. Suspicious links or attachments: An attachment or a link is often the gateway for malicious content. Users should always be cautious when interacting with a link or an extension, even if it comes from a trustworthy source. Hover over the hyperlink to ensure that the destination is correct. As a rule, never download any file from an unknown sender.
5. Urgent language: Scammers do not want their targets to think twice and want them to act in haste. Never respond to an email if it asks for an urgent response, especially for confidential information or a financial transaction. Cybercriminals use spoofed email addresses of executives in an organization to instill a sense of urgency. If it sounds fishy, it is advisable to cross-check with the sender directly to avoid a fiasco.

While organizations can weed out standard phishing emails by watching for these aberrations, many do not feature these obvious red flags. Phishers often use advanced tools and sophisticated techniques in their phishing emails that a typical user fails to identify.

• Here are some precautions organizations can take to protect their IT environment from the most advanced phishing attempts:

1. Conduct phishing awareness training: Along with being a prerequisite for compliance adherence in many sectors, phishing awareness training is vital for organizations to keep phishing attacks at bay. With regular phishing awareness training, organizations can educate employees on spotting and reporting suspected phishing attempts and protecting themselves and their employers from cyberattacks.
2. Utilize phishing simulation: Even after phishing awareness training, there is a chance that employees could fall for a phishing attempt. Phishing simulations are the best way to evaluate the likelihood of an employee falling for a phishing attack. The simulations help employees detect social engineering tricks, a significant component of phishing attacks.
3. Emphasize password security: While passwords remain the standard way to log in to corporate apps and most online accounts, they are often exploited, misused, and abused by cybercriminals. Hackers leaked over 2 billion credentials in 2022, making password security paramount for organizations. Here are some recommendations for enhanced password security:
4. Create strong and unique passwords: A strong password can go a long way toward securing a user’s credentials. Unfortunately, most people still use their name, birth date, or other apparent passwords that threat actors can crack easily. However, combining numeric, alphabetic, and special characters in a password makes it challenging for hackers. Using different passwords for different accounts is also imperative to secure other funds if one account is compromised.
5. Rotate passwords: A user often has no idea about their compromised account. It is, therefore, important to change passwords frequently to prevent attackers from gaining easy access to a report.
6. Use a password manager: Remembering passwords for all online accounts can be challenging. Password managers help users keep track of their login credentials, so users don’t need to remember multiple complex passwords. This also reduces users’ temptation to use simple, easy-to-remember passwords.
7. Utilize multifactor Authentication (MFA): Along with passwords, MFA provides an extra layer of security by adding another authentication process. Implementing MFA strengthens the security of online accounts.

Source: ID Agent