What is Phishing in Cyber Security?

Posted on: Nov 17, 2023 | 3 mins | Written by: HDFC ERGO Team

What is Phishing in Cyber Security?

Several individuals come across a scam or fraudulent communication impersonating a reputable source. This practice is also known as phishing. While the most common method is through email, the attacker may also use a voice or text message.

Phishing aims to maliciously acquire sensitive data, including credit card details or login credentials. Some resort to this practice to harm the user's device. Keep reading to learn what is phishing in cyber security and how you can protect yourself from it.

Phishing Techniques

A few popular phishing techniques used by threat actors are as follows:

1. Email Phishing:

Using fake domain names identical to real organisations, attackers send several requests to users via email. These emails may comprise threats or danger to urge victims to conform quickly.

2. Spear Phishing:

It involves sending shady emails to specific individuals. The threat actor may enhance an email's effectiveness by accessing details like the victim's name, job title, employment place, email ID, etc.

3. Voice & SMS Phishing:

Also known as vishing and smishing, this attack may incorporate phones for sending scam SMS messages or phone conversations. Voice phishing scams usually involve attackers pretending to be a fraud investigators for a bank or finance company, asking victims for card details. So, you must buy cyber security insurance beforehand to protect your system.

Recognising Phishing Attempts

You can recognise phishing messages by identifying some general characteristics. Look for the following pointers when discovering a phishing email:

1. Demanding sensitive data

2. Uses links that do not match the original domain

3. Containing a contrary domain

4. Email is not made exclusively for you

5. Comprises unrequested attachments

Preventing Phishing Attacks

While prevention is essential, you must also consider buying cyber security insurance to protect you from the expenses of suffering a malicious attack. Now, even if you know how to recognise phishing attempts, you must also use the following prevention tips:

1. Train employees to help them recognise phishing attacks and report them instantly to the security staff.

2. Expert-created blacklists come with anti-spam filters to auto-move fraudulent emails to a junk folder and prevent any mishap.

3. Employing anti-virus tools can help prevent, identify, and eliminate malware entering the system via phishing.

4. The latest version of software and browsers ensures solid barriers against scams to block new phishing attacks.

Conclusion

Threat actors practice phishing to impersonate reputable sources to steal sensitive details and credentials of victims. Through this article, you now understand what is phishing in cyber security and how you can recognise and prevent it in case of future attacks.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purposes only. For more details, please refer to the policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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