Phishing Attacks Can Be Stealthier Than You Think

The consequences of a phishing attack can be devastating: both on an individual and business level, it can result in being barred from your account, financial losses, and even identity theft. Chances are when you think of a phishing scam, you think of an email full of typos or a website with a long and erratic URL. But nowadays a phishing attack—any attempt to lure you to a fake version of a real website to get you to give away your information—can be well disguised, fooling even the most informed person. To best protect yourself from phishing scams, use the Anti-Hacking feature to thwart any attempts.

Read More: 5 Things You Can Do To Prevent Phishing Scams At Work

Deceptive Phishing
This is probably the most common type of phishing. It employs an email with urgent language that prompts you to enter your credentials to be safe from a non-existent threat. Even though the clearest indicator is strange wording or grammar and spelling errors, such an email can redirect you to a website with a URL that’s only a little different from the website it’s pretending to be. Be extra careful, then, with any non-direct way of accessing a website.

Spear Phishing
Even more deceptive, spear phishing uses the same strategy except it personalizes the message, and attackers customize the email to include your name, position, company, etc. It’s important to be familiar with how this type of phishing looks, but investing in an antivirus software, such as the Anti-Hacking feature of DFNDR, recognizes malicious links and ensures total safety.

Pharming
Pharming is another type of phishing that can easily go undetected. In this case, an attacker skips the baiting email and simply redirects alphabetical website names to a malicious link using a method called domain naming system (DNS) cache poisoning. This can occur even if you’ve entered in the correct website URL.

SMS Phishing
Phishing doesn’t only happen in the domain of emails and incorrect URLs. Attackers can now target people via SMS by sending a fake text message from your cellular provider, or another mobile service you use, that prompts you to give your login information. They then lead you to a fake verification process that first might ask for your phone number and zip code, and then email login, and later bank information. What’s sneaky about this method is that even if you don’t go through with the entire phish, they can gain your personal information in increments.