Phishing attacks: What you need to know

Phishing emails are one of the most common methods cybercriminals use to obtain your personal data. They disguise themselves as trusted senders and attempt to trick you into disclosing sensitive information or downloading malicious files. To protect yourself from these attacks, it is important to know the typical characteristics of a phishing email.

• Unusual sender address: The sender's email address does not match the name of the company or person the email claims to be from.
• General greeting:The email begins with a general greeting such as "Dear Customer." instead of your name.
• Urgency or threats: The email creates a sense of urgency or threatens negative consequences if you do not act immediately.
• Unusual attachments: The email contains attachments that you did not expect or that seem suspicious (e.g., executable files).
• Suspicious links: The links in the email lead to websites that do not correspond to the company the email claims to be from.
• Spelling and grammatical errors: The email contains numerous spelling and Grammatical errors.
• Unusual requests:The email asks you to provide personal information such as passwords or credit card details.
• Unexpected email:You have no interaction with the sender of the email, so the email comes unexpectedly.
• Tone and style are unusual:The tone and style of the email are unusual or do not fit the company or person the email claims to be from.
• The email is too short:Phishing emails are often kept short to avoid errors.

Companies have a responsibility to proactively protect themselves against phishing attacks. A comprehensive approach that includes both technical and organizational measures is crucial.

Technical Measures

• Modern Anti-Phishing Solutions
  Deploy email gateways and web filters with AI technologies to proactively block suspicious emails and websites. Sandbox environments enable secure testing of attachments.
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
  Supplement logins with additional security factors such as tokens or biometric data to prevent unauthorized access.
• Regular updates and patches
  Implement automated patch management to keep software and systems up-to-date and close security gaps.
• Email authentication protocols
  Use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify the authenticity of incoming emails and prevent spoofing.
• Network segmentation and zero-trust principle
  Divide your network into segments and strictly control access to make it more difficult for malware to spread.
   

Organizational Measures

• Develop security policies
  Define clear guidelines for handling emails, attachments, and sensitive data. Update these regularly.
• Access Management
  Grant employees only the necessary rights (least privilege) and implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).
• Emergency and Incident Response Plans
  Create detailed action plans with defined responsibilities and conduct regular exercises.

Best Practices for Employee Training

• Regular Awareness Raising
  Train your employees at least quarterly on current threats and phishing methods, adapted to their roles.
• Interactive Training and Simulations
  Use Workshops and phishing simulations to reinforce knowledge in a practical way and increase awareness.
• Phishing tests with feedback
  Conduct internal tests to assess vigilance and offer targeted feedback and additional training.

By combining these technical and organizational measures, you can sustainably strengthen your company's defenses against phishing attacks.

Even with the most comprehensive security measures, a phishing attack can be successful. In such cases, it is crucial to have a clearly defined emergency plan in order to respond quickly and effectively.

Immediate measures

1. Isolate systems: Disconnect affected devices from the network.
2. Change passwords: Update all access data.
3. Inform authorities: Report the incident to the NCSC.
4. Internal communication: Inform all employees about the incident.
5. Forensic investigation: Analyze the attack to identify vulnerabilities.
6. Adapt measures:Update your security strategies based on the findings.

1. What is phishing?
   Phishing is a form of cybercrime in which fraudsters attempt to obtain personal information such as passwords or credit card details. This often occurs via deceptively authentic-looking emails or websites.
    
2. Why are companies often the target of phishing attacks?
   Companies are attractive targets because they often have valuable data such as customer databases, financial information, and access to sensitive systems. In addition, targeted attacks (e.g., spear phishing) can trick individual employees into accidentally disclosing access data.
    
3. How do I recognize a phishing email?
   Typical characteristics of a phishing email are:
   - Spelling errors and unprofessional wording
   - Suspicious sender addresses
   - Urgent calls to action ("Your account will be blocked!")
   - Links that lead to external or fake websites
    
4. What role does employee awareness play?
   Employees are the first line of defense against phishing. Training helps them recognize and respond to phishing attempts. This significantly reduces the risk of an attack being successful.