Phishing attacks are one of the most common forms of cybercrime and can cost businesses millions in financial loss, data breaches, and downtime. To protect against phishing scams, organizations need strong cybersecurity protocols, employee training, and reliable security software.
A phishing attack is a type of social engineering attack where cybercriminals impersonate a trusted company, colleague, or service to steal sensitive information such as login credentials, financial data, or personal details. These attacks are most commonly delivered through email phishing, SMS phishing (smishing), or phone-based attacks (vishing).
Phishing emails often contain fake login pages designed to mimic legitimate websites or malicious attachments that install malware or ransomware. According to recent cybersecurity research, 91% of data breaches begin with a phishing attack, making it one of the most significant threats to organizations today.
While modern firewalls and network security tools make it difficult for external attackers to directly breach systems, phishing attacks bypass these defenses by targeting users inside the organization. By tricking employees into clicking malicious links or opening infected files, attackers can gain unauthorized access to internal systems.
In some cases, phishing attacks deliver ransomware, which encrypts files across a device or network. Victims are then forced to pay a ransom in exchange for a decryption key to restore access to their data.
Identifying a Phishing Attack
Email scams take advantage of the trust a person or organization has with a recipient by attempting to make the message appear to be coming from a reputable source. Attackers know that email scams are a numbers game, so they will use any techniques at their disposal to increase their open rate when sending to thousands of addresses. Here are a few of the most telltale signs of a phishing email.
Watch out for Look-alike Domains
Phishing attackers often register domain names that closely resemble legitimate businesses by using slight misspellings or character substitutions. The goal is to trick recipients into believing the message is from a trusted source. For example, an attacker might use an address like [email protected] to impersonate Microsoft and steal user credentials.
In other cases, attackers rely on the email display name to appear trustworthy, even when the domain is unrelated. For example, an email might appear as “Chase Bank Alerts” with the address [email protected]. While the display name suggests legitimacy, the actual domain (authorizedalerts.com) has no connection to Chase and is used solely to deceive recipients into trusting the message.
This combination of look-alike domains and misleading display names is a common phishing tactic used to increase the likelihood that users will click malicious links or share sensitive information.
How Phishing Emails Use Urgency to Trick You
Phishing emails are designed to pressure recipients into acting quickly before they have time to think critically. Attackers use urgency to trick users into clicking malicious links or entering credentials into fake websites.
Common examples include fake overdue invoices, account recovery alerts, and fraudulent shipping notifications claiming a package has been lost or delayed. These messages are crafted to create panic or a sense of urgency, increasing the likelihood that the victim will act without verifying the email’s legitimacy.
If an email creates a strong sense of urgency or pressure, take a moment to slow down and verify the sender. Check the email address carefully, and when in doubt, contact your IT department or the company directly through an official channel.
Be Wary of Links in Emails
Attackers will go to great lengths to impersonate a real website and can practically clone the way the website looks. Attackers use links to get you over to their fake sites so that you’ll enter your information.
Even links that appear to be legitimate might be fake. For example, a link in an email that appears to go to realbank.com/login, can contain a hyperlink inside of it that goes to realbank.securexlogin.com.
The securexlogin.com site used a subdomain with the name of the real bank to trick more people. This strategy combined with a clone of the real bank page can fool unsuspecting users into entering their banking information.
This is known as link spoofing, and it can be difficult to detect. Recipients can hover their mouse over the link to see where it goes in most email browsers before clicking. This still isn’t foolproof, as previewing the link destination doesn’t reveal if there are any redirects that may occur on that page. Having proper phishing defense in place can help protect against link spoofing.
Watch for Misspellings and Poor Grammar
Phishing emails often contain spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, or awkward phrasing. These issues can occur when attackers rush to send large-scale scam campaigns or when messages are translated poorly.
Common signs include misspelled words, unusual punctuation, and phrases that don’t sound natural in context. While these errors alone do not guarantee that an email is fraudulent, they can be a strong warning sign that the message should be treated with caution.
If you notice these types of mistakes, take a closer look at the sender’s email address and verify the message through a trusted source before taking any action.
What is Spear Phishing?
Spear phishing is a highly targeted form of phishing where attackers carefully tailor messages to a specific individual or organization. Unlike broad phishing campaigns that are sent in bulk, spear phishing relies on research and personalization to make emails appear highly credible.
Attackers may gather detailed information such as company structure, employee names, job titles, email addresses, phone numbers, email signatures, and even internal documents. This information is then used to craft convincing messages that are more likely to bypass suspicion.
The goal of spear phishing is typically to steal sensitive data, gain financial advantage, or obtain unauthorized access to systems. Because these attacks are carefully planned and customized, they often use stealthy techniques designed to remain undetected within a network for extended periods.
Spear phishing is also commonly used as an initial entry point for advanced persistent threats (APTs), helping attackers establish a foothold inside an organization’s systems.
Protecting Against Phishing
Protecting against email attacks isn’t as easy as installing an antivirus software and calling it a day. Phishing messages are constantly evolving and require proactive monitoring, staff training, and proper server configuration in order to fully defend against them. Here’s a few steps you can take to prevent phishing attacks.
Implement proper email security configuration
Server administrations should have access to their DNS servers where proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records can be configured. Together these three records help defend against spam as well as attacks that attempt to utilize spoofed addresses.
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework) restricts who can send messages from your domain and prevents email spoofing.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) ensures the integrity of your message while in transit, making sure the email hasn’t been compromised or tampered with during the sending process.
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) gives organizations options on how to handle messages that were not authenticated with either SPF or DKIM.
Keep staff informed and on alert
A strong employee security awareness program can significantly reduce the likelihood of phishing attacks being successful. Regular training helps staff recognize suspicious emails and understand how to report them appropriately.
Even with technical safeguards in place, human error remains one of the most common entry points for phishing attacks, making ongoing education a critical layer of defense.
Enable multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) provides an extra layer of protection that combines login credentials with something physical such as a smartphone or authenticator app. Even if a message is opened and credentials are entered into it, the attacker will not be able to access the site if MFA is enabled.
Have an incident response plan
Having a detailed phishing response plan can help mitigate and oftentimes completely prevent an attack. Fortra Brand Protection automatically prioritizes incidents and automates the triage and investigative work as soon as an attack is detected.
How do I Report a Phishing Attack?
If you have fallen victim to an email scam or have been sent a phishing email, here are a few simple steps you can use to report it:
- If you have received a malicious email, you can forward it directly to the FTC at [email protected].
- If the message was a text message you can forward it to SPAM (7726).
- Then report the attack by visiting http://ftc.gov/complaint.
