In the world of phishing, the hooks are getting sharper

The cybertraps to lure the unwary are getting more sophisticated in a global growth industry.

- Zakir Hussain

The e-mail from human resources landed in my inbox shortly after 11am, and at first sight, looked authentic amid the slew of e-mails from colleagues, newsmakers and other news providers.

“As you may know, our company is going through some changes and we hope to cause as little negative impact as possible. Please see the updated organisational chart at the link below to see how you and your team may be affected,” it read.

Without thinking too much, I clicked on the link - it said: Updated organisational chart - and realised too late I had fallen for a phishing attempt.

I was fortunate. It turned out to be a simulation exercise conducted by my company.

There were consequences for clicking where I shouldn’t have - compulsory training on cyber security to help recognise and avoid phishing attacks, my colleagues in IT security informed my boss of my breach, and I got a chiding.

I should have known better: I regularly delete e-mails and SMSes with suspicious headers, some of which purport to be from banks or various agencies, yet have classic telltale signs of spam and scam messages.

But things are changing. While as before, all it takes for perpetrators to succeed is a moment of weakness, a blind spot, a lapse in attention, the “hooks” that phishers employ have become sharper and harder to detect. The stakes along with the price of mistakes have also risen.

Cybercrime is a growth industry. Recent months have seen a number of law enforcement actions globally, discovering and thwarting attempts where phishing has been the gateway for more malicious cyber activity.

PHISHING AS A GATEWAY

Hackers typically “phish”, or fish, for information that internet users unwittingly reveal - such as usernames and passwords - that could be misused to gain access to their personal data, from bank to e-mail accounts.