Vishing. Did You Know It's a Thing?
... and Do You Know How Dangerous it Can Be?
Vishing can be defined as the fraudulent practice of making phone calls or leaving voice messages falsely claiming to be from a known company in order to get personally sensitive information such as bank account numbers and/or credit card numbers. Vishing is basically the phone equivalent of phishing. Just as how phishing attackers can spoof their outgoing email addresses, vishing attackers can forge their outgoing phone number to make it seem as though the call is truly coming from a real company. Some attackers may even use voice changers to conceal their own identity.
Sadly, vishing is proving to be one of the more successful ways attackers are getting the information needed to breach an organization. Researchers estimate that phone-based fraud leads to a global loss of more than $46.3 billion per year. Attackers often seek employee ID numbers, social security numbers, user credentials, home addresses or any other proprietary company information. These details can then be used to successfully breach an organization's computer network and do untold damage.
It would be nice if your phone gave you a definitive warning before any vishing attack, but that will not always happen. Without that warning, it's suggested that you learn how you can protect your company from vishing attacks.
>>> Click here to find out how to guard against vishing attacks.
eNet Healthcare News Desk
Pharmaceutical Companies Targeted by Cybercriminals
The healthcare industry has always been a big target for cybercriminals, but recently, these criminals have been focused on pharmaceutical companies in particular. Phishing campaigns and other fraudulent business email attacks against this sector have jumped 149% in the past year, making the biopharmaceutical sector the most targeted industry by hackers. There has already been an alarming number of attacks on the pharmaceutical industry just this year. By spoofing the email addresses of high-profile company executives, hackers trick low-level employees into giving up data or even transferring money. While this seems painfully simple, it actually works and the cybercriminals will keep at it until all employees receive the training they need to stop responding to these phishing emails. Please call us today at 281-403-9561 to discuss our free Internet Security employee training that comes with our Managed IT Services and be sure to visit our healthcare page.
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Security Update
Ransomware Attacks Still on the Rise
Despite the abundance of news coverage and warnings regarding the dangers of ransomware and the need for proactive network monitoring and protection, ransomware is still going strong. An analysis of the attacks from the second quarter of this year shows that ransomware caused an average of nearly 10 days of employee downtime and organizations lost up to eight percent of their data. Perhaps even more startling is that with ransomware payments rose 184% to $36,295 from $12,762 per incident.
If this article is making you a little worried for the safety and security of your company's computer network, that's natural. Give us a call at 281-403-9561 to discuss your options. If you are already a Managed IT Services client of ours, you know that your computers are monitored 24/7/365. The anti-ransomware protection is an important option you should add to your existing support plan.
