What does a surge in phishing attacks look like? (Part 2)

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In the first part of this blog series, I looked at how the number of phishing websites has surged recently during the pandemic. Now, let’s look at an example of how this is impacting businesses, like NASA, which has reported a doubling of attacks.

NASA is dealing with an unprecedented level of phishing attacks on its employees

NASA was highlighted recently in this article by Ars Technica, which gives us a view into what it is like for a business these days. NASA has experienced both a doubling of the number of phishing messages, and a doubling of the number of malicious links being clicked on by employees. It is unclear, and doubtful, based on my previous blog post, that all of the phishing emails and links targeting their employees are actually being detected. So, the number is very likely to be higher. 

Fortunately, NASA does have the ability to put the best security measures in place to try to detect suspicious email messages and website links. The article notes that it is particularly difficult at this time to put proper security measures in place. this makes it even more important that employees in all businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones, are able to recognize and avoid phishing messages with their own skills.

Any business that is not prepared for a wave of phishing attacks on their employees is likely to see an increase in security incidents such as malware and ransomware spreading across their networks, as well as scams that try to get employees to divulge sensitive information or even make unauthorized payments, causing serious financial and productivity losses.

…End of Part 2 of 3

What Click Armor can do to help you avoid phishing websites

Click Armor’s Continuous Cybersecurity Platform addresses the critical issue of phishing and social engineering at attacks on employees and individuals using the Internet. We use an innovative form of gamification to help you learn through fun challenges and simulations. As an employee at one of our customers put it:

“The gamification makes it so engaging and more motivating to learn. I’ve referenced it billions of times.”

Click Armor’s new personal phishing vulnerability challenge called “Can I Be Phished?” will help you assess your own ability to spot phishing attacks. Our COVID-19 edition simulates good and bad pandemic related messages. You can TRY IT now at: www.canibephished.com

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