Analysis of 1.3M Emails Unveils Hidden Threats Missed by Other Email Security Solutions
Analysis of 1.3M Emails Unveils Hidden Threats Missed by Other Email Security Solutions

What is URL Phishing

Phishing is among the most productive and successful means for attackers to exploit victims. Phishing is when a hacker fishes for your private information. URL Phishing is a social engineering attack used to steal users’ information such as username, password, and credit card number. It happens when a perpetrator impersonates a trusted source and tricks the victim into opening a text message, instant SMS, or email. Upon opening the message, the recipient is duped into clicking a malware link that can lead to hacking their system with a ransomware attack, installation of a virus, or revealing personal and financial information such as credit card information. URL phishing attacks are successful only when the person opens the malicious link to a website and gives away sensitive information. Usually, perpetrators masquerade those malicious URLs as identity confirmation or password resets. Hackers can even replicate the entire site to create a phishing website, so that the victim thinks it is a legitimate website. These fake websites are so similar to the real ones that users may not detect any difference. URL phishing attacks are advancing with an increasing success rate and becoming progressively more difficult to identify. Research from Intel says that 97 percent of security experts cannot spot a phishing email from a real email. Imagine how easily ordinary email users can be tricked by such scams, even if they pay attention to email account details. Often, phishing attacks manipulate victims by impersonating a trusted person or company. While experts struggle to pick out phishing emails, software has been developed to detect phishing and trap malicious messages. Trustifi’s system can help any business by identifying fake emails and blocking them before they ever reach the client’s inbox. Trustifi is a trusted e mail security company protecting millions of users around the world. They provide advanced threat protection, zero data loss, and end-to-end encryption.

Example of a URL Phishing Attack

Here is a common example of a URL Phishing attack: A person with nefarious intent distributes a fake email disguised as myuniversity.edu to university faculty members. The email content shows that the expiration date for the user’s password is approaching. The message advises to renew the password within 24 hours by clicking the following link: myunviersity.edu/renewal. If a user clicks the malicious link, one or the other of the following things can take place: The user is redirected to a fake renewal website page containing an exact copy of the real renewal page. It will ask the user to enter both existing and new passwords. The perpetrator, lurking behind that fake website, gains access to confidential information such as the original password and uses it to enter the secured university network.The user is redirected to the original password renewal page, but a malicious script activates in the background to hack the user’s session cookie. Thus, it gives the attacker a backdoor to the university’s restricted network. Once the hacker is in the university’s network, they can wreak all sorts of havoc, from deleting databases, to accessing files full of sensitive information about the faculty and students, to defacing the university’s legitimate site.

URL Phishing Techniques

The rise of URL phishing attacks poses a significant threat to all companies and organizations. The following two phishing techniques are common for URL Phishing: Email Phishing – The most common type of URL Phishing. A perpetrator sends bulk phishing emails to a significant number of users. Even if only a small percentage of the recipients react to the fake emails, the attacker gets a significant amount of personal information and money. First, the perpetrator creates a phishing email by replicating a real email from a legitimate organization. They use the same logos, typefaces, phrasing, and signatures to make the email look real and trick users. Next, the attacker adds a sense of urgency in the message to make the user act immediately, such as notifying of account expiration or even a warning that the recipient’s account may have been hacked. The hacker then creates a malicious URL (Uniform Resource Locator)  that resembles the real counterpart and looks like a trusted domain. To an unsuspecting user, the message, the origin of the email, and the place to which the link sends them all look legit, making the user vulnerable to attack.Spear Phishing – A version of URL phishing that requires in-depth information about an organization. It allows the attacker to impersonate a trusted individual and dupe the user into clicking a fake link in a bogus email, instant message, or text message. Once the link is clicked, the victim unintentionally reveals private information to the hacker.

How to Identify URL Phishing Attacks

Both individuals and enterprises can take the necessary steps to dodge URL Phishing. Individuals can prevent it by being vigilant. A phishing message or a phishing email often includes subtle mistakes that can reveal its true identity. Those mistakes can be simple spelling errors (i.e. google vs. goggle) or slight changes in the URL structure. For example, it’s good practice to check the web address that’s shown in the address bar of your browser to see if it matches the actual domain name and security certificate (https protocol) by clicking on the lock symbol can help with detecting malicious websites and phishing URLs. Enterprises can keep themselves safe from URL phishing attacks in several ways: A security-conscious enterprise should impose strict policies about password management and provide security awareness training to all employees. They should force employees to change passwords frequently and to not use the same password for multiple platforms. Still, these measures depend on the employees adhering to the policies. Humans being what they are, even the best of policies are only as good as the people who follow them. Therefore, security-savvy companies rely on Trustifi. Trustifi’s automated email security system is considered the most successful method to stop phishing attacks and prevent users from falling victim to phishing scams. It adds a verification layer to all inbound email traffic to keep the bad guys out while allowing legitimate messages through. Looking for an efficient security solution? Contact a Trustifi representative to learn more information about all the security features Trustifi offers and how affordable peace of mind can be.
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