Top 5 proactive measures to detect phishing – Save your business from scams

Phishing attacks through scam emails are on the rise, posing a significant threat to organizations worldwide. These attacks have led to substantial financial losses and affected 80% of global organizations.

Email remains the primary channel for phishing, with 96% of attacks originating from this source.

And so, it is essential for organizations to be proactive in detecting and preventing phishing, as the motives behind these attacks are always malicious. Every individual within the organization must prioritize security measures and distinguish between genuine sources and spoofers.

How does it look when you are the victim of phishing attacks?

An easy way is a thoughtful approach toward all the emails that you receive in your inbox. Identify the signals and keep an eye on the alerts to protect your customers, your networks, and your data.

Sense of urgency in the language: You’d notice that the emails have an emotional tint to convince you. You’d also receive notification or alerts from a legitimate source that’s hard to ignore. Don’t get persuaded. They are mere tactics to make you open emails and deliver malware to your system.
Spoofy sender/recipient’s address: When you see that the email address is unfamiliar, has a new domain name, and is rather susceptible, avoid opening them. Your action of opening such an email could be too dangerous and certainly affect your business.
Mismatch and typos: when you have a single error or a typo, you could ignore it as we all tend to do such mistakes. But, when you have too many errors, with mismatching details, emojis with duplicate logos & colors, and the content quality is clumsy and poor, know that it is not from a legitimate source.
Seeking sensitive/confidential info: Your email copy seeking passwords, account details or anything of such info might include fake records and deceiving details to manipulate you. They are strong signals for you to determine that they are spoofers on the other side of the email.
Generic opening but a compelling subject line: You will notice that the opening is too generic (due to mass emails), but there is a compelling subject line and CTA. So, you now know what it indicates! All that these emails want from you is to open them and make a clear way to enter them into your systems.

Top 5 tips to avoid phishing and secure your company

Tip # 1 – Leverage trainings and include tests
Having your workforce get professional training and awareness can do wonders. They should be aware of what needs to be done and when. Let your team know the different types of phishing attacks and scams, so they are prepared beforehand.

Tip # 2- Mailbox profiling and user behavior analysis
Ensure that you perform mailbox profiling to detect and prevent your mailboxes from hyper-targeted phishing emails. Filter the emails based on the content and signatures and include a multi-layered security approach. Hover on the given link and crosscheck whether the landing page is an entrusted site.

Tip # 3 – Use advanced security features
For all the users who deal with crucial and confidential data, enforce multi-factor authentication on all of those accounts. This will protect credential theft and other kinds of data theft.

Tip # 4 – Report phishing and suspicious emails
When your employees spot phishing, encourage them to report it immediately. When you have more reports, you will work on them and increase the resilience thereby. Include phishing intelligence and encourage the team to defend such malicious attacks proactively.

Tip # 5 – Web gateways and anti-virus software
Perform thorough URL filtering and block domains that are suspicious. Do complete URL filtering and use a strong anti-virus. Also, don’t forget to update your software sporadically and keep a check on the updates.

The final words

By implementing measures such as

Mailbox profiling,
Educating employees
Advanced security features,
Reporting suspicious emails, and
Utilizing web gateways

Your organization will be vigilant to detect and prevent phishing scams.

Following the proactive measures outlined above and implementing strong data governance, you can safeguard your organization’s future. Still unsure where to start? Drop us an email or give us a call. Our experts are here to help you uncover threats and establish rock-solid cyber security policies.