Phishing attacks are one of the oldest and most common types of cybersecurity attacks today and they are becoming more prevalent.

Known mainly as a type of security breach that happens through emails, they are now becoming more sophisticated, expanding to text messaging and other types of personal communication.

What can someone do to ensure phishing attack protection against these threats?

Phishing attack protection companies recommend first understanding what these attacks are and how to recognize them, then taking steps to avoid becoming a victim of one. 

What Are Phishing Attacks?

Phishing attacks are social engineering security attacks that work when a person provides access to the attacker, usually by responding to a phishing email or text message or even a phishing voicemail.

These emails and messages, which are usually designed to look like communications sent by recognizable companies, prey on a user’s inability to detect fraudulent communications without any phishing attack protection.

By clicking the enclosed links and/or providing personal information to the scammer, users inadvertently provide access to their devices or their accounts. 

What Do Phishing Attacks Ask For?

Phishing attacks are common during tax season and commonly present as shopping scams or attempts to gain control of retail or banking accounts.

They are also common during the holiday shopping season; however, the most commonly seen phishing scams involve financial or consumer “account reset” emails and texts that attempt to fool the user into clicking a link, then entering account information under the false pretenses that they are resetting the login for their actual account.

Instead, what they are doing is visiting a fake website and then providing their login information to the real website, giving scammers their credentials to login as them. 

Is There Any Phishing Attack Protection?

What can the average internet user do to protect themselves against phishing attacks?

Phishing attack protection services stress the importance of good observation and using common sense.

If a communication is unexpected or something about it looks slightly off, more research to determine its authenticity is required before any links are clicked and information is provided.

Users should learn to recognize false sent-from emails and adopt a set of rules on how to handle emails and texts of these types that ask for sensitive information.

Phishing attack protection services recommend that multi-factor authentication on all accounts and the use of phishing prevention software can also help. 

Don’t Be The Victim of a Phishing Attack!

Phishing scams prey on a user’s trust and their inability to identify minute differences between real communications versus fake ones.

Noting this and how human error is the main cause of private information being released to these scammers, businesses and individuals alike should keep up to date with the latest phishing scams, then be on the constant lookout for them when responding to communications.

Contact a phishing attack protection company for help recognizing and avoiding these damaging types of data attacks!