Phishing attacks victimized nearly 50% of UK organisations

In UK, nearly 50% of all business entities were victimized with phishing attacks during 2017-18, with the bigger organizations possibly getting compromised the most in spite of them conducting staff awareness programmes on cyber-security.

Sophos the cyber-security company, which commissioned a research, found that phishing assaults driven with the objective of acquiring sensitive information were carried out for hijacking 45 percent of the country's organisations during the period.

Cyber-criminals leverage phishing e-mails as the most frequent attack method during hacking processes. Through such e-mails the hackers try enticing victims into pulling down malicious software online alternatively feeding confidential credentials into some fake website, usually of certain retailer, bank, else certain phony login page which resembles that of the business under attack.

The study conducted over a wider audience reveals that 54 percent of 906 Information Technology chiefs across Western Europe surveyed knew of instances wherein their company staff answered unsolicited e-mails alternatively pursued web-links embedded on such messages.

According to UK Managing Director Adam Bradley with Sophos, criminals are well skilled with the use of socially-engineered tactics for exploiting human deficiencies; therefore, although properly trained company staffs do excellently deter cyber-attacks, yet the best Internauts potentially bear the chances of slipping up. Organisations require making sure employees are always watchful about the dangers that phishing attacks pose while there should be continual training for spot checking staff members who make a miss while making sure they react correctly as well as keep on abiding by the guidelines they are given. Business firms require blocking malware-laced attachments, web-links as well as fraudsters impersonating legitimate entities so they don't make it to the Internauts' inboxes. Also, the most recent tools of cyber-security should be put in place on devices for preventing sophisticated e-threats, notably ransomware from destructing them, Bradley elaborates. www.information-age.com posted this, March 13, 2019.

They appear simple, however, phishing attacks are frequently launched at the start of campaigns by bands who may be cyber-criminal syndicates seeking for earning money, to government sponsored hackers seeking for spying else disrupting infrastructures.

Meanwhile, compared to UK organizations, Irish companies had fewer instances of becoming phishing victims, just 25 percent.

» SPAMfighter News - 3/20/2019