Every year, one of the cybersecurity companies in the world releases a report of the most impersonated firms used in phishing attacks. Unsurprisingly and typically, many of those companies are technology firms. Check Point released their report on this topic and it’s unlikely anyone will be surprised to see the results.
There are any number of phishing emails or texts spoofing the global job search engine, Indeed, claiming you’re a “perfect fit” for some role that you’d never even considered before. Then there’s the one spoofing a payment card company from which you don’t even have a card. This year, the top 10 remain mostly technology companies.
The list goes like this:
Microsoft —22%
Google—13%
Amazon — 9%
Apple — 8%
Meta — 3%
PayPal, Adobe, Booking, and LinkedIn— 2%
The lone non-tech dominant company on the list is the shipping company DHL with 1%.
You should always be on alert when a text or email from these companies comes through, they certainly are not the only ones that are spoofed for the purposes of stealing credentials, money, or identities. Keep in mind the anti-phishing tips that should be pulled out of the cabinet from time to time.
Is the message, link, or attachment expected? If not, don’t click on anything or use contact details inside the message. Navigate independently to the website or find the phone number yourself and call.
Does the message look professional? If there are typos, incorrect grammar, punctuation errors, be suspicious.
Did you place an order or interact with the company recently? If not, well, it’s most likely phishing.
Always make sure your passwords are strong and include a combo of upper and lower case letters, numbers, special characters, and are not dictionary words. Keep them safe and never share them. Also, be sure to enable multi-factor authentication for your accounts whenever it’s available.
Just taking a moment to consider whether the message is legitimate or not, may save you from a lot of stress. If something is so important that you can’t take a beat to think about it, it is most likely going to come by way of a phone call and not a message you may not see for a while.
SUBSCRIBE TO WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
