Whaling and spear phishing are latest scams targeting execs

Posted by accountingweb on Nov 16 2007 591 printer friendly

Cybercriminals, no longer satisfied with a sweeping, general approach, are adding another weapon to their arsenal - so-called spear phishing attacks, or scams that are targeted at specific individuals.

Not surprisingly, according to security vendor MessageLabs, the latest targets are executives. Finding the names of top executives is easy - they're usually found on company websites. Cybercrimals then do some research on the individuals and write e-mails that directly relate to their role at the company in hopes that they will click on a link, Network World reported. The link brings the executives to a site where malware is downloaded onto their computers that tracks their keystrokes, which can reveal sensitive information.

Some anti-phishing tips

Education: one of the best strategies to combat phishing is to educate your users of current attack methods and to teach them what to do in the event of a phishing attack.

Where possible, use two factor authentication, which requires an additional mechanism (ID card or code-generating key fob) as well as a password.

Avoid mass-mailing customers links to your website - doing so encourages them to accept such emails as normal.

Use anti-phishing systems that to identify phishing content in both e-mails and web sites through add-ins to your browser and e-mail client. Systems include: NetCraft Toolbar, Google Safe browsing, eBay Toolbar, Earthlink Scamblocker, Geotrust Trustwatch or McAfee SiteAdvisor.

Report suspicious mails to your e-mail administrator or ISP and alert the APWG.

Report all incidents where fraud occurs to the police.

Source: Sans Institute.

MessageLabs earlier this year spotted two e-mail blasts of what they are calling whaling. The e-mails say they are from the Better Business Bureau, a recruitment company or they are seeking invoice information. In June, MessageLabs caught 514 e-mails sent to executives in various organizations over two hours. In September, 1,100 whaling attacks were detected within 15 hours.

"It's really the social engineering that has tipped the balance now; now [phishers] are becoming much more technologically sophisticated as well as applying psychology to what they're doing," said Paul Wood, senior analyst with MessageLabs. "Now they conduct a lot of research before they attack, so it becomes much more difficult to recognize those attacks," Network World reported.

Jennifer Openshaw, a MarketWatch columnist, has a few tips on sniffing out bad e-mails. Beyond the obvious advice - don't reply to suspicious e-mails or open attachments - she advices always using good antispyware and making sure your firewall is on at all times. Also, she said snopes.com is a good resource to find out if some sob story is really true, and phishing scams should be reported to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) at reportphishing@antiphishing.org [1]. She also suggested typing in "phishing" and the name of the source, "IRS" or "Paypal," for example, into your search engine. You can find out if your e-mail is a scam pretty fast that way, she writes.

The APWG reports some good news, however. In a July report on trends, it said the average time online for phish sites is about 3 and a half days, versus a week in 2003. The APWG says, "Response strategies are slowly closing phishers' felonious windows of opportunity."