WyzGuys Tech Talk

Phishing Email Alerts

Catch of the Day: #1 Attack Phish
Chef’s Special:  LifeLock Phish

Examples of clever phish that made it past my anti-spam nets and into my inbox. Some are contributed by clients or readers like you, and other reliable sources on the Internet.

You can send phishing samples to me at phish@wyzguys.com.

My intention is to provide a warning and show current examples of phishing scams, related articles, and education about how these scams and exploits work, and how to detect them in your inbox. If the pictures are too small or extend off the page, double clicking the image will display them in a photo viewer app.

Phishing Is Still the No. 1 Attack Vector, With Huge 144% Malicious URL Spike

Analysis of nearly a year’s worth of emails brings insight into exactly what kinds of malicious content are being used, who’s being impersonated, and who’s being targeted.

I love data built on statistically relevant data samples, as the larger the data set, the more relevant and representative of an entire industry, country or world it is.

One such report is Hornetsecurity’s just released Cyber Security Report 2024. They analyzed 45 billion emails sent in 2023 to see exactly which techniques cybercriminals are using to infiltrate your network.

First, the seemingly “good” news: according to Hornetsecurity, only 3.6% of all emails were considered malicious. At first glance, this seems rather small. But when you consider that we’re still talking about 1.6 billion emails that are putting organizations at risk, this is actually horrible news.

Phishing was the most common email-based attack method, representing 43.3% of attacks (other email attack methods included advanced-fee scams, extortion, impersonation, etc.). And within those emails, malicious URLs was the top technique used at 30.5% (a 144% growth from last year). For those emails with attachments, HTML files were most popular – found in 37.1% of cases.

Using a “threat index,” Hornetsecurity listed the top 20 industries based on risk; research, entertainment, manufacturing, media and healthcare topped the list in this very interesting infographic. [link below]

Regardless of the specific technique(s) used, it takes a user falling for the social engineering used and engaging with a link, attachment, or phone number to keep an attack moving forward. By enrolling users in new-school security awareness training, organizations reduce that risk, thereby lowering the likelihood of successful attack via phishing.

Norton LifeLock Renewal Phish

Received this on Tuesday 2023-12-19.  This is a typical example of a phishing campaign using a call-back number to snare credit card and other information from unwary victims.  These campaigns are designed to create “I didn’t order that” responses.  Here is what to look for

For me the email address is a clue because it is one I set up years ago to track how often it gets used in a phishing email.  At this point it is almost a daily occurrence.

Opening up the attachment to see what we have.

Here is the “renewal invoice” with the customer service number

Resist the urge to call.  Check your bank and credit accounts first using safe links from your bookmarks collection.