Phishing attacks are nothing new, but their frequency has been on the rise the past year for one simple reason: they work. How can they be defeated?
There are numerous ways criminals can breach a company’s network. Yet one of the most time-tested and popular forms of attack remains phishing.
Launched via email, phishing attacks are typically aimed at tricking employees into giving up user names and passwords. Once a criminal has valid credentials, he has access to other accounts, applications, and confidential documents that require the same user name and password for access.
Stolen credentials can also be leveraged to target other employees to steal their credentials or persuade them to send money or digital assets. Also, once a criminal is inside a network, he can move freely about it, probing for weaknesses.
