Don’t Get Hooked by Vishing Attacks
Cybercriminals are motivated and creative, which is not a great pairing for their victims. Just when we think we know what to watch out for, there’s something new to worry about. Right now, voicemail phishing (vishing) attacks are on the rise. Find out more about vishing and what you can do about it.rnrnFirst, a reminder: phishing refers to bad actors sending fraudulent emails. They use social engineering to get you to reveal personal or sensitive information. For example, employees might get an email that looks like it’s from your IT team. It might ask them to renew their access credentials in the next 24 hours, but they need to enter their existing credentials into an online form to make the change.rnrnVishing also relies on social engineering – it targets our impulse to trust or help – but, vishing does this using voicemail. Cybercriminals use this approach to attack individuals and businesses, and they aim to obtain the information they need to perpetrate further crimes.rnrn rn
How does vishing work?
rnCybercriminals prepare in advance to make vishing more convincing. They’ll call from what looks like a local number, as you’ll be more likely to answer. They learn enough about their victim or the organization they claim to be from to appeal to human nature.rnrnA vishing attempt will:rn- rn
- use urgency to encourage you to act; rn
- leverage false credibility to convince you they’re legit (e.g. calling from the government, tax department, IT support, or HR); rn
- employ persuasive language to make you want to help; rn
- take a threatening tone so that your fear you will be arrested or have your bank accounts shut down to override your suspicions; rn
- reference current events to tap into your worries (e.g. during the tax season, criminals might spoof tax collection agencies; or during COVID, people were promised testing kits for sharing their bank information). rn