Email Phishing

Email phishing techniques have been around for a while now. Long enough to have become easily recognizable to the average internet denizen. Now, the latest method, "spear phishing," requires more research from the criminal, but reports claim that the emails are having more success because of this required research. With his research in hand, the email mugger will create an email that looks and seems like it came from a more trusted source than before, and once the victim has clicked on a link, opened an attachment, or in some instances just opened the email, malware will be installed onto your computer.

The Difference

Usually, a phishing attack will attempt to get the victim to give up some kind of financial data. A credit card number, bank accounts, log-ins, are generally their targeted data. But spear phishing are more sophisticated criminals. They are trying to infiltrate a network to gain access to company secrets, employee data, intellectual properties, along with all the standard fare of financial data. In the en

d, even though a spear phishing criminal will have to do their homework, they stand to gain much more if successful.

The Bait Plays On Your Emotions

Most often the spear phisher will use the emotions of the intended victim. Offers of rewards, threat of closing accounts, and just plain curiosity are most common methods. To get your curiosity going, they may state that a delivery was missed, or reward notices. Everyone loves to get packages and win contests/drawings for their favorite mobile device? Often the email will have a link to click on, or an attachment to open to "get the details." Once the attachment or link is opened, the damage is done.

Key Phrases That Work The Best

FireEye, a security firm, reports that the most commonly used phrases that are successful include the words: DHL, notification, and delivery. Often the attachments will be named something like "DHL document.zip, Fedex_invoice.zip, or Label_parcel_XXXXX-XXXXUS.zip, (where the X's are random numbers and letters.) One highly successful breach, (the RSA security firm breach,) started with an email that had an attachment called "2011 Recruitment plan.xls." And while scanners have often proved useful in spotting the spear phishing attempts, they may not catch all of the attempts.

Sending Spear Phishers Home Empty Handed

In many cases a spear phishing attempt will be blocked by email scanners. But there are a few that get through, and these are the ones to watch out for. Here's a few rules to help avoid these:

• 
  If the email isn't expected, don't open the attachments or links... even those that appear to come from trusted sources.
• Always keep your anti-virus and anti-malware software up-to-date and in use.
• If attachments or links must be opened, then use a quarantining client, like sanddboxie, to open it.
• Never give up these rules. Some people will eventually relax in their security procedures over time... don't. It has been found that over the period of several months people will tend to relax their guard.
• Think, think, think. If the email appears to come from a trusted source, but is still questionable, then email the sender and inquire about it through a separate email, not the reply button.

By following these few simple rules, (all the time,) many companies have shown a marked reduction in the number of malware infections, and a defined increase in the productivity of their employees.

With the aid of Anti Scams App {A.S.A} from AKACOMNG.