You probably get phishing emails every day. They are designed to trick you into opening them and clicking the links inside. These cyberattacks are designed to get unsuspecting users to reveal personal information like passwords and credit card numbers, and directly steal money or identities.
Though they seem to be from reputable people or companies, these emails direct you to illegitimate websites that may also look real. The attacks happen every day on personal networks, but when they happen on company networks and corporate infrastructure, the damage can be much more far-reaching and long-lasting. They are a significant cybersecurity risk, and you must do everything in your power to prevent them from impacting your business. What % of all breaches come from Phishing. Stat would be good here
Cybersecurity and Phishing Emails
Even the most conscientious employee can be spoofed by a phishing email, so it is important for an IT services provider to train staff members about these scams. There are certain red flags to look out for, and a big one is mismatched email domains.
For example, if the email claims to be from your insurance provider and the email address is noticeably different, it is likely inauthentic. Spear-phishing is more targeted and sends real-looking messages to specific people or organizations; these appear to be even more authentic.
If you aren’t sure about an email, you can do a little bit of investigating. With Outlook, open up the message and then navigate to “File.” The true header should display at the bottom of the email’s “properties” window.
For Gmail, click on the vertical three dots (ellipses) of the message and then choose “Show Original.” These are just two ways to spot phishing emails. Read on to learn about others.
More Ways to Spot Phishing Emails
Phishing emails sometimes have generic greetings like “Dear Sir or Madam,” but they can also have your name in there. Poor spelling and grammar are also indicators of phishing, since legitimate companies usually edit their messages to provide customers and potential customers with high-quality content that looks professional.
If you have a relationship with an individual at a company and suddenly get an email from a new name, proceed with extra caution. Outlook or other email providers may identify it as a new sender.
Most of the time, phishing emails will have attachments or links in them, so never click on a link right away. Instead, try hovering your mouse over them to see if the address shown matches the link in the message.
Phishing emails are often detected by potential targets, but the problem is that employees get so many emails a day that they devote less focus to each one. As a result, they let their guards down and might click on a dangerous link without thinking twice.
A comprehensive counter-attack to phishing emails can be employed; in short, you can set up preventative measures and train employees on how to recognize phishing and delete the messages.
How MSPs Prevent Phishing Attacks
A managed services provider like TAG Solutions can help eradicate your phishing problem for good. We use technologies that can flag suspicious emails, and proactively quarantine them to be investigated in a timely manner.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be implemented to proactively monitor and safeguard businesses, and their end customers too. They can scrutinize email communications, and investigate behaviors by device users and senders – this can be used to develop profiles for trusted email senders.
Software like KnowBe4 can train users to detect phishing emails, making it good for small businesses looking to train their employees. This can be valuable when onboarding new hires, updating or reviewing training protocols, and can be priceless when the time comes to put that knowledge to use.
Identity and access management (IAM) is also used to protect companies from phishing emails, and this combines multi-factor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO) for effective password management.
We can explain how these systems work, as well as the importance of training employees about these dangers. For a free network vulnerability assessment, call us at 800-724-0023 or contact us online.