Social engineering cyber attacks come in many shapes and sizes, many of which are obscure and only recently developed. Phishing, however, has been around for a long time and is perhaps the most commonly known type of social engineering attack. The various types of phishing attacks have evolved over time from transparent, comical email scams to highly sophisticated and convincing attacks.
And phishing is effective. According to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, phishing (together with pretexting) continues to be the leading cause of social engineering cyber attacks — with 31% of breaches involving phishing.
In this article, we’ll explore everything you need to know about the types of phishing and how to prevent them. We’ll also share real-life examples of recent phishing attacks.
How Does Phishing Work & Is It Illegal?
While there are several types of phishing, the fundamental concept behind it is simple. It all starts when you receive a communication — typically an email — that looks realistic and trustworthy, asking you to take a specific action like sharing personal details, following a link to log in, or downloading some software.
However, despite its innocent appearance, the message is in fact from a nefarious source. When you enter your details, you’ll be sharing them with a criminal who can then use them to access your other accounts and steal data or money. In a corporate setting, phishing can be even more devastating — targeting individual employees to gain access to an organization.
The average time for users to fall for a phishing email is less than 60 seconds, according to Verizon’s aforementioned report.
All types of phishing are forms of cybercrimes; however, its legal status can be complicated. The act of sending a message alone is difficult to prosecute under federal criminal law. The good news is that most instances of phishing scams do have laws (usually federal wire fraud laws) that apply to them.
Real-Life Examples of Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks don’t just target individuals and small businesses — they are extremely wide-ranging and have successfully breached some enormous organizations. Here are some examples of phishing attacks and what went wrong.
In July 2020, with the world reeling from the shock of the pandemic, a 17-year-old hacker and two similarly young co-conspirators set up a website designed to look like the VPN service used by Twitter employees. The hacker then enlisted the help of fellow criminals to contact Twitter staff, directing them to the fake website and asking them to input their credentials.
The hackers used this information to gain access to several high-profile Twitter accounts, including those of Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, and Joe Biden. They used these accounts to send out a message offering to double the amount of any Bitcoin sent to them, and were able to collect over $100,000.
Colonial Pipeline
In 2021, the fuel supplier Colonial Pipeline was hit with a massive ransomware attack, sparked by a phishing email.
Hackers used phishing to steal an employee’s password, after which they were able to infiltrate the organization, encrypt assets, and demand a ransom. Colonial Pipeline paid $4.4 million to decrypt the information, on top of huge losses resulting from an entire week of downtime. In turn, the price of oil rose, impacting ordinary consumers.
The Guardian
The Guardian newspaper in the UK suffered a ransomware attack in 2022 after hackers used a phishing email to access critical information.
Thankfully, the newspaper reported that there was no evidence any data had been exposed online and scrambled to resolve the issue. Staff were asked to work from home while internal systems were investigated.
How to Reduce the Risk of Phishing Attacks
Now that we know what’s at stake with phishing attacks, it’s time to look at how to prevent them. This requires a multi-pronged approach focusing on both technical security methods and the human element of cybersecurity.
Anti-Phishing Technology
There is no one tool or solution that will give you full protection against phishing. Since phishing relies on human error, one of its greatest strengths is its ability to bypass common security technologies. However, there are still steps you can take to reduce the likelihood of all types of phishing attacks and lessen their impact.
Email security can play a useful role here. Spam blockers can prevent some phishing emails from ever reaching their targets, while authentication methods like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records help you and your employees quickly identify emails from suspicious sources. Also, anti-malware software can limit the damage caused when employees are tricked into downloading harmful files.
Education & Preparation
The most important element of phishing defense is giving your individual employees the knowledge and awareness to recognize scams and avoid falling for common types of phishing tactics. This can take the form of regular training sessions, reminders when users log into email services, and a compulsory course on anti-phishing safety during onboarding.
It’s important to include everyone in this training. Phishing attacks target all levels of the organization, and higher-level employees are often targeted with highly sophisticated and personalized scams.
Combat All Types of Phishing With DYOGUARD
One of the best moves you can make to defend against all types of phishing — and build a stronger security posture in general — is to harness the latest and most powerful tools available.
At DYOPATH, we have extensive experience helping companies build better defenses, access and manage the right security tools, and effectively train their employees to do their jobs more safely — and DYOGUARD combines our knowledge with cutting-edge tools to defend against all types of phishing and other cyber threats.
Be proactive with your cybersecurity: Learn more about DYOGUARD today.
