decrypting myths
Fighting back
against festive fraud
Hackers are phishing harder
than ever for your Christmas
bonus. Ralf Sydekum, Technical
Manager, F5 Networks,
explains how businesses
should prepare to fight back.
I
t’s a few weeks
before Christmas.
You want to
surprise a family
member with a
new laptop, but
you can’t decide
which one. To find the right brand, you
innocently reach out to your social
media community to crowd-source some
options. Suddenly, you receive an email
from a colleague, who often comments
on your online posts.
Apparently, they’ve got some top tips for
you and here’s the link with all the details.
Merry Christmas. You’ve just been
spear phished. In a matter of seconds,
you’ve been hoodwinked by a carefully
constructed, highly-targeted scam
and your personal data is now in
cybercriminals’ hands.
You wouldn’t be alone. F5 Labs’ Lessons
Learned from a Decade of Data Breaches
report revealed that phishing is fast
becoming cybercriminals’ easiest and
most productive attack vector and is
www.intelligentciso.com
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Issue 08
now responsible for almost half of all
recorded breached records by root
cause. According to Symantec, spear
phishing is today’s dominant infection
vector, employed by as many as 71% of
organised cybercriminal groups.
The data is supported by figures from
the Anti-Phishing Working Group
(APWG), which indicates that global
phishing incidents have risen a
staggering 5,753% over the past 12
years. Gartner currently believes that
social engineering, alongside GDPR
compliance, are the two issues most
likely to cause the greatest enterprise
damage if not adequately addressed by
risk management leaders.
It’s the season to be wary
Phishing in all its incarnations is
undeniable and a rapidly growing
menace. Unfortunately, for many,
the holiday season brings perfect
conditions for its nefariousness to thrive.
Research from payment system firm ACI
International shows that online fraud
grew by 22% globally between November
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