Find out why hackers are using phishing email scams and how to detect them and warn your employees
Businesses are embracing technology and relying more heavily on the web for communications — attracting cybercriminals with new attack methods. Phishing is a tactic defined by the U.S. government as an online scam that targets users by sending emails that appear to be from a well-known source. The sender could be posing as the CEO of your company or even as a business you frequently use such as Microsoft or Amazon.
Even tech giants Facebook and Google suffered a phishing attack lasting more than two years in which a cybercriminal posed as a large Asian-based manufacturer they regularly did business with. The criminal conned Facebook and Google out of $100 million using fake corporate stamps, email addresses, and invoices.
Businesses of all sizes are targeted. An SMB can suffer from downtime, lost revenue, loss of trust, stolen data, and more due to phishing. There could be more severe consequences, as SMBs often don’t have resources to remediate an attack. According to a 2016 survey sponsored by Cloudmark, the average cost of handling a phishing attack on a mid-sized organization is $1.6 million. An even worse figure, reported by Deloitte, states that one in every three consumers will actually drop your company after it suffers a cybersecurity breach.
Hackers use phishing to:
This allows them to:
All it takes is for an employee to:
Look for the following suspicious elements when opening your next email.
Ask yourself — Do I know this person or this company contacting me?
Users of Software-as-a-Service (Saas) and webmail services – common SMB tools – are now being targeted more than any other group, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group. The category became the biggest target for the first time in Q1, accounting for 36% of all phishing attacks.
In order to stay ahead, keep your antivirus software up to date and secure your network traffic to mitigate phishing risk at your company. Avast Business offers advanced cybersecurity solutions to protect businesses and their employees from falling victim to phishing emails, as well as keeping software patched and secure. Contact us to learn more about protecting your network.
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