Mobile Phishing Scams:
How to Spot & Stop Attacks Early
Mobile phishing isn’t just receiving phone calls and text messages, it comes in a variety of different types. Sometimes, it is so carefully disguised and difficult to notice. However, all of the mobile phishing attacks serve an ultimate goal- bait the recipients into clicking malicious links or files and plunder sensitive information.
Emails coming from suppliers and other external personnel may also be the potential threat if your partners have been targeted. With BYOD-Bring Your Own Device and remote workplaces being the new normal for employees, this allows greater opportunities for viruses to hide and pass through firewalls more easily.
Even trusted brands do not necessarily mean they’re safe from mobile threats either, as we recognised in the recent Singtel breach. Furthermore, commonly used mobile apps from entertainment, e-commerce, banking, to government apps and websites are all potential targets. Users can also open the doors for mobile phishing scams through social media like Facebook – the most impersonated brand in 2021 as well as free entertainment apps such as the widely-downloaded FaceApp.
Research shows 44% of security incidents in 2021 were caused by employees falling victim to phishing scams, even after almost half of those security leaders prioritised security awareness training for employees not long ago. So the questions that must be asked are quite simple: Is your cyber defense technology effective enough? Is your cyber security consulting service provider capable of safeguarding your important assets?
Phishing is everywhere and we cannot get away with it. As technology advances so do the tactics of cyber attackers. It’s very difficult to prevent every phishing attempt however we can’t just wait to address it after it has happened. Often, cyber criminals will target financial services as they manage large amounts of capital as well as highly sensitive – and valuable – information every day.
The recent re-emergence of phishing scams and fraudulent activities via cyber threats to Singapore banks has shone a spotlight on the importance of companies, especially financial institutions, to stay hyper-vigilant against phishing. The most effective way to prevent such attacks is to engage with an experienced cyber security consultant in Singapore.
SPOT IT: How to Detect Phishing Attacks Early
- Ensure that you have comprehensive mobile usage guidelines in place
- Educate stakeholder with phishing scam signs to watch out for including but not limited to:
- Suspicious or conflicting information: Verify the sender’s source and pay close attention to email addresses and URLs. Exercise caution when downloading and opening attachments.
- Threatening language or demands for immediate action: Creating a sense of urgency is a common phishing tactic. Many phishing emails/texts may also have misspellings and grammatical errors.
- Requests for confidential information: Organisations and financial institutions will never ask for personal information or money to be sent over the internet.
- Emphasis on cyber vigilance in employees by providing relevant stakeholders with cyber security awareness training and real life phishing simulations regularly. This will effectively equip stakeholders with not just general knowledge and company policy, but also new mobile phishing trends and what the protocols are should a breach happen.
- Engage with a cyber security consultant in Singapore in deploying 24/7 monitoring service to proactively detect mobile phishing , instead of relying on a human’s decision-making that can be prone to mistakes.
STOP IT: Safeguarding Your Organisation Against Phishing Attacks
Should there be any human failure, there must be a standard operating procedure in place for cyber attack incident responses such as those offered by CSIntelligence’s CS Rescue service that can be executed immediately once the mobile phishing threat has been recognised.
As a last line of defense, there needs to be a holistic cyber defense deployed on all mobile devices – often company-wide. Another highly effective way to both prevent and stop mobile phishing scams and numerous other types of phishing and cyber attacks is by leveraging Managed PDR® (Protection, Detection, Response and Remediation) technology.
Implementing Managed PDR® immediately enables real-time threat detection and remediation on both mobile and emails. It can not only be a first line of defence but provide a much-needed additional layer of protection to your IT security. Singapore companies will appreciate its ability to weed out phishing emails and malicious attachments, blocking the delivery path to employees entirely.
Managed PDR® can safeguard organisations against phishing attacks with 24/7 real-time monitoring to detect and defuse threats promptly while providing you with visibility into your organisation’s cyber health to better identify and address vulnerabilities.
Prevent Phishing With CSIntelligence
Without necessary holistic approaches to defeat mobile threats and all other types of phishing out there, anyone within your organisation could be the next target. However, leveraging the latest available technologies will substantially reduce the potential of mobile cyber attacks.
A strong mobile cyber defense strategy is essential to enterprises, but it isn’t simple and straightforward to be implemented – especially due to BYOD-Bring Your Own Device. Mobile cyber attacks are not predictable and preventional so a passive defense is not enough, you must proactively spot and immediately stop such attacks if your mobile system is compromised.
An improperly-created mobile cyber defense may indeed lead to critical losses for your company. It’s more cost effective to collaborate with an established company that offers top-quality cyber security consulting services for phishing attack prevention.
If you’d like to discuss the needs of your enterprise with a cyber security consultant in Singapore who is equipped with an extensive amount of experience and knowledge, please get in touch with CS Intelligence today! We offer an obligation-free 1-on-1 consultation to find out how we can support you in boosting your organisation resilience against potential mobile phishing and cyberattacks.
You can do so either by calling +65 6970 7339 or sending us an online enquiry.