Once upon a time there was an internet, that nice place where you can look up information and deal with banking safely. Oh well, we still have an internet, it just isn’t safe any more. Haven’t been for a while.
Once upon a time..
Many of the stories we have heard as children begun with the words ”once upon a time”. That phrase comes to mind as you reminisce about the good old times, when the browser’s address bar glowed green when you visited the website of your bank or other provider you deemed trustworthy. On the present day you really have to consider what to click on and where you might end up because of that.
The ”bank” page you found by googling was actually a “service” built by another “banker”.
Those good old days are not coming back and the song ”Those were the days..” doesn’t bring comfort while cleaning up phishing emails and blocking damaging url-addresses. Not to mention the depletion of a bank account or the stress of acquiring a new identity.
Protection against phishing emails
Can you protect yourself from phishing emails? No, you can’t. You can prepare, but protection is almost impossible. Email is still one of the fastest and most used ways to communicate. Unfortunately it is also one of the biggest risk factors for getting trapped.
Providers delivering information systems are very aware of the problems caused by phishing emails and are investing into different kinds of control mechanisms and their development. Despite this, 100% protection still does not exist. Every time a control mechanism evolves, so does the attack methods.
”We had acquired strong security procedures for online traffic and phishing emails to protect our company, but we ended up supplementing it with the phishing email prevention service provided by Wesentra Oy. Cofense Protect sets out to support the security of our email system and proved useful in the pilot when we were actually being targeted by targeted phishing email attacks. According to the pilot, the most professional phishing email attacks passed other email filters in use.”
Niko, Ammattiopisto Spesia Oy
Preparing for the problems caused by phishing emails
Phishing emails try to cause concern and hurry. The aspiration is to cause panic to the receiver and to benefit the criminal by following a hyperlink embedded in the email. That hypelink will lead to an authentic-looking website which will seem like a protected site on the browser (little lock icon on the browser’s address bar).
The most important part is to have awereness and stay alert. The best way to do that is through education and constant suspicion towards emails that seem the slightest bit of eccentric. To achieve this, the use of devices and services is permitted. Users are being kept aware with the use of simulation campaigns and making the reporting of phishing emails easier.
The last step in threat control
Wesentra Ltd provides solutions for simulation and control of phishing emails.
Our popular simulation service is customizable and significantly increases the alertness and reporting sensitivity of the employees using the service. PhishMan, the simulation service, acts as an educational and guiding factor in protecting against phishing emails.
Our Cofense Protect solution works as the last link between M365 and Google Workspace solutions, providing protection for those emails that have passed all other protections.
The last step in controlling the threats are the users themselves. The person who reports the phishing emails or even their own suspicions against eccentric emails, is the savior who can stop the intruder’s attempts. This requires the user to have effective and secure ways to report their suspicions.