Whether it’s curiosity, time pressure or fear – psychological tricks play a major role in cyber attacks and unfortunately all too often lead to success. In this blog article, you can read about the 3 most common phishing tricks as well as key strategies and various technological solutions for phishing defense.
Phishing is Becoming Increasingly Efficient
Their Psychological Tricks: How Cyber Criminals Manipulate People
Criminals know exactly what they are doing: they use psychological manipulation to exploit human weaknesses. This is what makes phishing so effective – and risky.
The most common methods include:
- Curiosity: Who isn’t curious when it says: “Car in underground parking garage has been damaged”. Such vague subject lines tempt people to click on links or open photos in order to obtain more information.
- Time Pressure: The pulse is sure to race when emails arrive with time-limited offers or urgent instructions (“Need today!”). They put the target person under pressure to act quickly before critically scrutinizing the message.
- Fear: The pulse is sure to race when emails arrive with time-limited offers or urgent instructions (“Need today!”). They put the target person under pressure to act quickly before critically scrutinizing the message.
Companies should sensitize and train their employees to these tactics and implement suitable technological protection measures. But what exactly does an appropriate protection concept look like? And how can it be implemented?
The 3 Pillars of Successful Phishing Protection
To protect themselves effectively against phishing attacks, companies should focus on three central strategies:
1. Training Employees - Including Heads & CEOs
2. Use of Modern Security Technologies
3. Response Plan in the Event of an Emergency
Technological Solutions in Detail
1. Phishing Awareness Tools
2. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Conditional Access
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an effective method against phishing attacks on login data. Security is increased by requiring several factors to verify a user. For example, it is possible to request a one-time password in addition to the user password, which is sent by SMS to a separate smartphone. Thanks to the Trusted Platform Module chip, modern solutions even allow MFA without such a second device.
In order not to lose sight of usability despite all security precautions, companies should consider the topic of “conditional access”. This helps them to always adapt the required login method to the respective context. If a context is defined as secure, a simple login may be possible, e.g. via single sign-on. If a user is in an insecure context, authentication should take place via MFA or access should even be denied.
3. Mobile Threat Defense (MTD)
MTD solutions have been around for many years. But thanks to AI, modern MTD tools are even able to detect anomalies in user behavior. They can detect if a person enters a password from a different location or at a different time – and can increase the complexity of the login procedure (keyword MFA) or deny access in suspected cases.
4. Ransomware Blockers
Conclusion: Comprehensive protection is necessary
Phishing attacks are not only increasing in frequency, they are also becoming increasingly difficult to detect. In the past, phishing emails could often be identified by spelling mistakes, unprofessional layout or incorrect context – those days are over. Today, the messages are so professionally designed and equipped with psychological tricks that even experienced users can fall into the trap. And this is true for the masses – because Phaas providers (Phishing-as-a-Service) help criminals to succeed with their services.
Companies must therefore take comprehensive measures to protect themselves. Training, modern security solutions and emergency plans are the basis of an effective protection concept. However, we know from discussions with companies that there is usually a lack of time, personnel and in-depth knowledge. IT security is not one-dimensional, but consists of dozens of small building blocks that interlock to provide a certain level of security. You have to know these building blocks and always stay on the ball because the attack situation is so complex and dynamic.
With the support of an IT service provider, you can ensure that you use the right tools and use them efficiently, while neither the usability for your employees suffers nor the administrative burden for your IT team increases. We help you to take the pressure off your IT team and keep your finger on the pulse. We are not only familiar with the latest technologies, but also contribute our experience from a wide range of customer projects. So you benefit in many ways.
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