In 2023, phishing was behind 36% of data breaches encountered in the US.
Today, it has become one of the costliest threats to enterprises. A simple phishing incident could mean the loss of business-critical data, significant operational issues, including downtime, eroded credibility in the market, and even legal consequences.
But the reality is, no business, regardless of scale or industry, is immune to a phishing attack. So, preparing your organization to effectively tackle such a security breach is critical for avoiding the ensuing repercussions.
Phishing Explained
Soliciting sensitive business information by misleading employees is often termed phishing within an organizational context.
A scammer could phish for a range of company data, from business plans, customer databases, and supplier contracts to bank account information and account passwords.
Ultimately, all these could present monetary gains to a bad actor. A criminal could, for instance, sell your customer data on the dark web or use it to target your clients for various financial frauds.
Business email compromise (BEC) is the costliest phishing scam nowadays, with losses amounting to $2.9 billion. Call and SMS phishing are also prevalent, growing in numbers and sophistication each year.
How Can You Protect Your Business From Phishing?
Many enterprises fall prey to phishing due to negligence and other preventable issues. The good news is that you can evade many of these attacks by taking proactive measures to strengthen business security.
Watch Out for Telltale Signs
Knowing how to identify phishing attacks is critical for tackling them with caution.
Common red flags include:
- Urgent requests that demand immediate action. Sometimes, these may appeal to your emotions using threats and other manipulative tactics.
- Unsolicited emails, SMSs, and messages carrying links and attachments can download malware or direct you to phishing sites.
- Generic greetings that don’t address you by name. “Hello”, “good morning”, and “dear manager” are examples of these.
- Unusual use of language that may seem atypical of the relevant person. This may include words and phrases they don’t usually use.
- Obvious typos and grammatical mistakes.
Practice Identity Verification
In most phishing scams, fraudsters impersonate an individual or entity already known to their victim. Many BEC incidents, for instance, involve the mimicking of a senior executive of the organization to avoid raising suspicion.
Therefore, verifying who you are communicating with, whether via phone, email, or SMS, is essential for preventing your business data from getting into the wrong hands.
If you receive a call or SMS from someone you know on a number you don’t recognize, get into the habit of calling them back using a phone number you had already saved.
When you don’t have the contact details of the relevant person, reverse search the number they have used and verify their authenticity. The same goes for email addresses, too.
Keep Your Security Infrastructure Up-to-Date
A strong security infrastructure can not only alert you to unwanted breaches but can also prevent data theft attempts.
Therefore,
- Schedule regular software updates to protect your network, devices, and data with the latest patches against evolving threats.
- Install malware protection to block spyware, keyloggers, and similar malicious files used by cybercriminals to phish for data.
- Opt for a secure VPN to prevent unauthorized network intrusions.
- Adopt access controls to limit the use and access of sensitive business information to a selected number of employees.
- Set up complex passwords and multi-factor authentication to strengthen data security.
Get Your Employees Up-to-Speed
Employees play a critical role in implementing an organization’s data security systems and protecting businesses from phishing scams.
Therefore, it is important to use training and awareness sessions to ensure your teams understand the latest threats, how they are executed, the cost of falling victim, and what measures employees could take to prevent and mitigate them.
Setting some rules in the form of policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs) is equally vital. These would provide a guideline for staff on acceptable behaviors and practices and the repercussions of not falling in line.
For example, data-sharing policies could outline what is classified as sensitive data and how it should be stored and shared.
Has Your Business Fallen Prey to Phishing? Here’s What to Do
Despite your best efforts, evading every phishing scam is not practically possible. No one is immune from accidentally clicking on a link or not noticing minor differences in an email. In fact, sometimes even professionals fall for phishing scams.
So, what should you do in the event your organization falls victim to one?
Figure Out What Happened
As soon as you realize that the phishing attack has taken place, it is important to figure out what exactly happened. Have you or someone else from the company accidentally clicked a link in the email, or has anyone shared your company’s confidential data through email?
Understanding what happened will allow you to implement the necessary protection steps.
Let Others Know
As soon as you notice a data breach, alert your business as fast as possible.
Your data security policies should already mention the escalation process for incidents such as this.
It should generally involve informing the IT department, your team, and senior executives, depending on the gravity of the attack.
Mitigate the Damage
By notifying the relevant parties quickly, you can reduce the damage caused by a breach to a great extent. The IT department will typically kick into gear the necessary steps to contain the threat.
For example, isolating and disconnecting breached devices, changing account passwords, and alerting impacted stakeholders are essential practices in such an event.
Report the Incident
A data compromise could have severe, long-lasting consequences for a business. For instance, by using your business identity, a criminal could commit various crimes targeting your customers and many others. Clearing your name in a situation like that could take months if not years.
However, if you had reported the initial phishing attack, you can minimize much of the damage faster. Informing law enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission should be a top priority in this.
Reach Out to the Implicated Company
If you have been contacted on behalf of any company, reach out to their representative to let them know what happened. They may or may not know about the incident, but it’s still important to let them know that their company has been involved in a phishing attack.
Learn From the Mistakes You Made
If that is your first time dealing with phishing, you will probably make some mistakes. Learn from them and write down the important moments in case something similar happens in the future. Note down both your strengths and weaknesses to make sure that your mistakes won’t cost you and your clients anything.
Conclusion
Today, many enterprises connect online to communicate faster, improve efficiency, access new markets, and drive revenue growth.
Although the digital space presents significant economic benefits and advantages, it increasingly exposes businesses to threats of various kinds.
Phishing ranks high among them. Its prevalence has made it an imminent threat to organizations—one that may involve costly repercussions.
Therefore, checking your business preparedness for this deceitful scam is necessary if you want to thrive in a connected world.
Steps to take include building awareness to understand and identify common red flags, adopting critical identity verification practices, and strengthening your security infrastructure, and keeping it up-to-date. You must also make sure your employees are trained and fully geared to implement your security protocols.
FAQs
- Is phishing prevalent among businesses in the US?
Yes, phishing attacks are some of the most popular threats businesses in the US encounter. According to research, 90% of security breaches in organizations take place because of phishing attempts.
- What are the most common signs of phishing?
Unusual sender, generic greetings, urgent or threatening language (or, on the other hand, too friendly language), suspicious links and attachments, unexpected requests for sensitive company information, poor grammar and spelling, unusual email attachments, and constant follow-ups are some of the most obvious signs of phishing.
- How does phishing affect businesses?
Phishing can have several serious effects on businesses, from financial losses and reputational damage to operational disruption and legal consequences. It can stop the entire work flow, which is an efficient way for a company to lose its clients.
- How often should businesses conduct phishing awareness training?
Businesses should conduct phishing awareness training at least once a year, but there are several factors that could influence the frequency of training, such as regular phishing attacks, for example, that require more frequent training.
- Can phishing attacks be completely prevented?
Phishing attacks cannot be completely prevented, but the risk of falling victim to them can be significantly reduced through a combination of awareness, training, and technical defenses.
- Why do employees fall for phishing?
Employees may fall for phishing attacks due to a variety of factors, including lack of awareness and training, the sophistication of phishing attacks, human error, distraction, and lack of company protocols and support. Attacks on less tech-savvy employees are also one of the reasons why workers fall victim to phishing.
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