Phishing attack

Phishing attacks are becoming very common in the digital world. Phishing attack threat is the number one menace that businesses across the globe face today. Cybercriminals use fake email addresses to try and trick people into giving away their passwords or financial information. When it happens on small scale, the loss is comparatively lesser. But if the same incident takes place in an organization, the criminal finds a way for an employee to enter into the company’s accounts and use it to gain money. Since these types of threats are becoming very common with digitization, it is safe for organizations to evaluate their exit strategy. They should have a few things ready when their company fall for phishing attacks.

Phishing attacks are used as a major vector for ransomware, data theft, identity theft, and online fraud. Given the amount of chaos a single phishing attack could cause, organizations are encrypting their devices and are sensitizing their employees to not fall for the scam. But unfortunately, despite the increasing awareness, cybercriminals also find disruptive ways to approach their targets. They use a common set of manipulative tacks like exploiting them emotionally by influencing their anxiety. As a result, employees end up giving some critical information to cybercriminals. Therefore, the chances of trying to not fall victim to a phishing attack is absolutely zero. Fortunately, even when organizations are undergoing tough times, there are a few things that they can do to prevent further damages. In this article, IndustryWired has listed five such steps one can take when their company falls for phishing attack.

Don’t Panic, take Premature Actions

If it suddenly comes to your notice that you are being phished, then the first thing to do is not to get panic. Remember that phishing attacks are very common in the digital era and hundreds of phishing attacks take place every day. But as a move to limit the intensity of the attack, you need to disconnect your laptop or computer from the network, alert your IT team, run a malware check on your PC, change login credentials, and move the stored credentials to some other device.

Find the Root of the Issue

Emails are not the only way cybercriminals enter your device. There are a whole lot of ways that leverage the way for attackers to obtain data. Therefore, when you realize that you are a victim of phishing attack, find the root cause of the threat. Search your firewall logs for all of the suspicious IPs, URLs, etc from the email, attachments, etc. Finding the hole could help you cement it easily.

Run a Malware Test

If you are not tech-savvy and is not from the IT department of a company, then a safe move would be taking your device to a professional in your IT wing. Ask the professional to run a full malware scan on your device. In order to make sure the scanning process is thorough and safe, use a reputed service. If you already have an antivirus installed in your system, use that for initial stage scanning. But in case it feels decisive, moves to some other reputed malware service.

Use Threat Intelligence

Threat intelligence is a trailblazing technology that could help you minimize the damage of phishing attacks. It is the knowledge that allows you to prevent or mitigate those scams. Rooted in data, threat intelligence provides context like who is attacking you, what their motive and capabilities are, and what indicators of compromise in your systems to look for. This helps you and your organization make informed decisions on data security.

Always be Ready for the Next Time

Phishing attacks are a never-ending saga. Despite spending money on antivirus, cybercriminals still have a chance to enter your system. Therefore, organizations must conduct regular baseline assessment to gauge the level of security awareness among teams.