Could a Cyber Attack Knock Out Your Computer? Training materials can feature real-life examples of spear phishing, with questions designed to test employee knowledge. … Whaling emails are highly customized for specific persons. If they call, an automated recording prompts them to provide detailed information to verify their account such as credit card number, expiration date, birthdate, and so on.The biggest protection is education and up-to-date antivirus software. In a nutshell, spear phishing and whaling attacks are very different in terms of their sophistication levels and the victims they target. This list defines phishing, spear-phishing, clone phishing, and whaling. Take the 2008 FBI subpoena whaling scam as an example. Such individuals have access to highly valuable information, including trade secrets and passwords to administrative company accounts. These emails try to gain identification information, such as social security numbers. What is Whaling? See how Imperva Web Application Firewall can help you with spear phishing attacks. Vishing is a form of phishing that uses the phone system or voice over IP (VoIP) technologies. Cyber-criminals send personalized emails to particular individuals or groups of people with something in common, such as employees working in the same department. Copyright © 2020 Imperva. A prudent password management policy should take steps to prevent employees from using corporate access passwords on fake external websites. 3: Designing: Spear Phishing emails are prepared for a group of people. What happens behind the scenes is that when you enter your information into the fake site (which can't log you in because it isn't real), the information you entered is sent to the attacker, and then you're redirected to the real website. Since whaling occurs over emails and websites, you can avoid all malicious links by understanding what's real and what isn't. Whaling is another malicious, naughty member of the Social Engineering family which also includes phishing, spear-phishing, baiting, pretexting, watering holes and tailgating. As a result, the target unwittingly reveals sensitive information, installs malicious programs (malware) on their network or executes the first stage of an advanced persistent threat (APT), to name a few of the possible consequences. a targeted attempt to steal sensitive information such as account credentials or financial information from a specific victim Now, it's not always possible to know what's fake. In this video, you will know what spear phishing is, and its difference from phishing and whaling. An Imperva security specialist will contact you shortly. This is usually a C-level employee, like a Chief Executive or Chief Financial Officer. The goal might be high-value money transfers or trade secrets. In this attack, the hacker attempts to manipulate the target. Scammers design them to look like a critical business email or something from someone with authority, either externally or even internally, from the company itself. The easiest way to protect yourself from falling for a whaling scam is to be aware of what you click. Whaling is a form of spear phishing aimed at “whales” at the top of the food chain. It's different from ordinary phishing in that with whaling, the emails or web pages serving the scam take on a more severe or formal look and are usually targeting someone in particular. In this Clip you'll learn about phishing, spear phishing and whaling. Spear-phishing and Whaling With 91% of all cybercrimes and cyber-attacks starting with a phishing email, a phishing attack is not a question of if – but when. This usually comes in the form of a password to a sensitive account, which the attacker can then access to gain more data. Spear Phishing And Whaling. Whereas phishing scams target non-specific individuals and spear-phishing targets particular individuals, whaling doubles down on the latter by not only targeting those key individuals, but doing so in a way that the fraudulent communications they are sent appear to have come from someone specifically senior or influential at their organization. “Imperva prevented 10,000 attacks in the first 4 hours of Black Friday weekend with no latency to our online customers.”. The difference between whaling and spear phishing is that whaling exclusively targets high-ranking individuals within an organization, while spear phishing usually goes after a category of individuals with a lower profile. How Do I Protect Myself From Whaling Attacks? However, several risk prevention measures can help, including two-factor authentication (2FA), password management policies and educational campaigns. Share. Whale phishing is aimed at wealthy, powerful, or influential individuals. However, if you look at the URL in your web browser and make sure to look around the site, even briefly, for things that look a little off, you can significantly decrease your chances of being attacked in this way. The content will target an upper manager like the CEO or even just a supervisor that might have lots of pull in the company or who might have credentials to valuable accounts. In those cases, the phishing email/site looks pretty standard, whereas, in whaling, the page design addresses the manager/executive under attack explicitly. During 2019, 80% of organizations have experienced at least one successful cyber attack. Whaling uses deceptive email messages targeting high-level decision makers within an organization, such as CEOs, CFOs, and other executives. Learn how Perception Point prevents phishing, spear-phishing, whaling, and any other impersonation attacks from getting to your employees’ mailboxes. Whaling. When 2FA is used, even if a password is compromised using a technique like spear phishing, it’s of no use to an attacker without the physical device held by the real user. While whaling attacks target high-level individuals, spear phishing is aimed at low-profile targets. Depending on how influential the individual is, this targeting could be considered whaling. Flexible and predictable licensing to secure your data and applications on-premises and in the cloud. Similar to Spear Phishing is Whaling. 4: Target: Spear Phishing targets low profile individuals. Spear Phishing and Whaling both are different type of Email phishing attacks that attackers use to steal your confidential information. … In this type of phishing attack, … the attacker takes time to get to know the company … by collecting publicly available information on the company. The point is to swindle someone in upper management into divulging confidential company information. The targeted nature of spear phishing attacks makes them difficult to detect. Imperva offers two solutions that can help secure against phishing attempts, including spear phishing: +1 (866) 926-4678 Spear phishing and whaling. All rights reserved    Cookie Policy     Privacy and Legal     Modern Slavery Statement. At this point, you have no idea that the page was fake and that someone just stole your password. Phishing involves sending malicious emails from supposed trusted sources to as many people as possible, assuming a low response rate. “Whales” are usually high-ranking victims within a well-known, lucrative company. Like spear phishing, this type of attack includes research on the attacker’s part. At the same time, a command and control agent is installed on the sysadmin’s machine, which can then be used as a backdoor into the enterprise’s network to execute the first stage of an APT. The user may receive an email, a phone message, or even a text encouraging them to call a phone number due to some discrepancy. As a result, each of the 2000 compromised companies was hacked even further now that the attackers had the information they needed. You try your password again, and it works out just fine. «Spear Phishing»: personalized attacks Last but not least, phishing has become more specialized. With that in mind, what is whaling? The whaling attempt might look like a link to a regular website with which you're familiar. You just entered your password incorrectly — that's the scam, though! Whaling is like spearphishing, but with a greater purpose — specifically targeting individuals of high rank or status. Spear phishing is a social engineering attack in which a perpetrator, disguised as a trusted individual, tricks a target into clicking a link in a spoofed email, text message or instant message. No harm was done, right? Scammers attacked about 20,000 corporate CEOs, and approximately 2000 of them fell for the whaling scam by clicking the link in the email. A type of spear phishing, generally oriented for bigger professionals than low-level employees, like CEO’s or CTO’s of any organizations. Long-term action, precision and well-rehearsed attacks are organized. When you try to submit your information into the login fields, a notification appears stating that the information was incorrect and that you should try again. Whaling attacks may take weeks or months to prepare, and as a result the emails used in the attacks can be very convincing. While similar to phishing and whaling attacks, spear phishing is launched in a unique way and its targets differ from other social engineering assaults. At the organizational level, enterprises can raise awareness and actively train employees, highlighting spear phishing attacks as an important threat. Phishing emails are impersonal, sent in bulk and often contain spelling errors or other mistakes that reveal their malicious intent. or Home > Learning Center > AppSec > Spear Phishing. The end-game in all phishing attacks like whaling is to scare the recipient, to convince them that they need to take action to proceed, like to avoid legal fees, to prevent from getting fired, to stop the company from bankruptcy, etc. The program, whether real or not, has a malicious undertone to track everything you type or delete things from your computer. Spear phishing mitigation. A legitimate website won’t accept a false password, but a phishing site will. In a regular phishing scam, the web page/email might be a faked warning from your bank or PayPal. While most people know about deceptive phishing attacks, they are unawar… Whale phishing, much like spear phishing is a targeted phishing attack. Spear Phishing: It is the type of phishing which targets specific person or organization. However, whaling campaigns specifically go after executives and high-level employees. Whaling, like any phishing con game, involves a web page or email that masquerades as one that's legitimate and urgent. Their differences are highlighted below. Spear phishing emails, on the other hand, are more challenging to detect because they appear to come from sources close to the target. One example of such a policy is to instruct employees to always enter a false password when accessing a link provided by email. from users. Even law firms have fallen victim to such attempted “spear phishing” and “whaling” attacks. It uses the same approach as regular spear phishing, in that the attacker purports to be an individual the recipient knows or trusts. Whaling targets CEO’s, CFO’s, and other high-level executives. Example of a phishing email – click to enlarge. Spear-Phishing and Whaling Make Scams More Targeted Not only are these threats not going away, they are getting more sophisticated with the introduction of spear-phishing, which introduces social engineering to the mix to specifically target companies or even employees, making phishing attempts even more difficult to spot. This type of cyber attack is big business for the hackers. The key difference between whaling and spear-phishing is that whaling attacks target specific, high ranking victims within a company, whereas a spear-phishing attacks can be used to target any individual. If you’re reading this blog you probably already know a good bit about security. If attackers want to hone in their target even more than a spear phishing attack, they launch a whaling campaign. They are common and sent to many different people at once. Spear phishing and whaling. Yes, unfortunately, managers often fall for whaling email scams. This confidential information might include login credentials, credit & debit card details, and other sensitive data. In contrast to bulk phishing, spear phishing attackers often gather and use personal information about their target to increase their probability of success. As in Spear Phishing, the attacker is familiar with the target. Contact Us. The difference between whaling and spear phishing is that whaling exclusively targets high-ranking individuals within an organization, while spear phishing usually goes after a category of individuals with a lower profile. The problem is that not everyone notices these subtle hints. What is Phishing? Paul Gil, a former Lifewire writer who is also known for his dynamic internet and database courses and has been active in technology fields for over two decades. Instead of a link, the phishing scam might have you download a program to view a document or image. As a result, the attack deserves special attention when formulating your application security strategy. Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day, How Whaling Is Different From Other Phishing Scams. 2FA helps secure login to sensitive applications by requiring users to have two things: something they know, such as a password and user name, and something they have, such as a smartphone or cryptographic token. In the case of whaling, the masquerading web page/email will take a more serious executive-level form. Whaling is a form of spear-phishing, a form of phishing which targets a particular individual to gain sensitive personal or business information. Phishing attacks come in three different varieties: deceptive, spear phishing and whaling. The attacker disguises as a trusted party and deceives the victim into opening an email or a text message. Phishing: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself Against It, The Netflix Scam: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself From It, AT&T Scams: What They Are and How to Protect Yourself From Them, How to Report a Phishing Email in Outlook.com, The Cash App Scam: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself, Twitter Scams: How to Identify Them And Protect Yourself, The Walmart Text Scam: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself From It. The targeted nature of spear phishing attacks makes them difficult to detect. Whaling is a form of spear phishing that specifically goes after high-level-executive target victims. Phishing attempts directed at specific individuals or companies is known as spear phishing. Employees who are aware of spear phishing are less likely to fall victim to an attack. For example, theInternal Revenue Service (IRS)is currently warning people against falling for a new deceptive phishing attack during this tax season. Whaling is a type of spear phishing. With spear phishing the data thieves will only have one target – whether it’s an individual, a business, or an organization. Do Executives and Managers Really Fall for These Whaling Emails? We kid you not! Most people are used to seeing deceptivephishing emails. For perspective, regular non-whaling phishing is usually an attempt to get someone's login information to a social media site or bank. Gartner Magic Quadrant for WAF 2020 (Full Report), Imperva A Seven-Time Magic Quadrant Leader and Named Highest for Completeness of Vision for WAF, CrimeOps of the KashmirBlack Botnet - Part I, CrimeOps of the KashmirBlack Botnet - Part II, Advanced Bot Protection Handling More Traffic Than Ever, SQL (Structured query language) Injection, Reflected cross site scripting (XSS) attacks, Distinguish spear phishing vs. phishing and whaling attacks, Learn about spear phishing protection from Imperva, A spoofed email is sent to an enterprise’s sysadmin from someone claiming to represent, After clicking on the link, the sysadmin is redirected to a login page on. The following example illustrates a spear phishing attack’s progression and potential consequences: Spear phishing, phishing and whaling attacks vary in their levels of sophistication and intended targets. Trusted logos and links to known destinations are enough to trick many people into sharing their details. For example, an attacker may send an email to a CEO requesting payment, pretending to be a client of the company. However, the attacker now has your username and password to the website to which you thought you logged in. The attacker sends emails on issues of critical business importance, masquerading as an individual or organization with legitimate authority. Spear phishing focuses on stealing login credentials/ sensitive information. In spear phishing, the attack is targeted toward a specific company or even an individual. If there is spear phishing, did you know there is another term related to it called whaling? These are more planned and sophisticated attacks. It targets high-ranking, high-value target (s) in a specific organization who have a high level of authority and access to critical company data. Scammers design them to look like a critical business email or something from someone with authority, either externally or even internally, from the company itself. Whaling and spear phishing scams differ from ordinary phishing scams in that they target businesses using information specific to the business that has been obtained elsewhere. The Apple Phishing Scam: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself, Spoofing: What It Is And How To Protect Yourself Against It, Why We Fall for Texting Scams (and How to Stop), The Craigslist Text Scam: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself From It, The Amazon Text Scam: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself From It, Spear Phishing: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself. But for those of you who are just getting started in this field, or those who want to learn a little more about the types of phishing… However, if you're not careful, what happens next is the problem. "Whaling" is used when a high-ranking manager is taken into sight. The first thing to know is that whaling and spear-phishing aren’t actually different practices – they both involve targeting a phishing attack to an individual recipient. The whaling email or website may come in the form of a false subpoena, a fake message from the FBI, or some sort of critical legal complaint. Sometimes, you get a new email from someone that you've never emailed before, and they might send you something that seems entirely legitimate. It probably asks for your login information just like you'd expect. Whaling focuses on fetching trade secrets which can affect a company's performance. Whaling attacks always personally address targeted individuals, often using their title, position and phone number, which are obtained using company websites, social media or the press. Phishing, spear phishing, business email compromise, whaling – a definition As we mention in our Cybersecurity Glossary , phishing refers to “ a malicious technique used by cybercriminals to gather sensitive information (credit card data, usernames and passwords, etc.) Whaling, like any phishing con game, involves a web page or email that masquerades as one that's legitimate and urgent. Whaling. It's that simple. Spear-Phishing vs. Phishing vs. Whaling. In truth, the linked software was a keylogger that secretly recorded the CEOs passwords and forwarded those passwords to the con men. The scammer sends a personalised email to either a group of employees or a specific executive officer or senior manager. "Whaling" is a specific form of phishing that targets high-profile business executives, managers, and the like. A whaling attack is a spear phishing attack against a high-level executive. And as the imagery suggests, whaling is a type of spear phishing that targets highly valuable individuals and organisations. For example, a phishing email might purport to be from PayPal and ask a recipient to verify their account details by clicking on an enclosed link, which leads to the installation of malware on the victim’s computer. The faked page might frighten the target with claims that their account has been charged or attacked, and that they must enter their ID and password to confirm the charge or to verify their identity. They believed it would download a special browser add-on to view the entire subpoena. Phishing is the least personalized, whaling is the most, and spear-phishing lies between. 1. This form of Phishing is used to target upper level corporate management in an attempt to obtain restricted internal information. The difference between phishing, spear-phishing and whaling attacks is on the scale of personalization. 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And use personal information about their target to increase their probability of success enterprises... 926-4678 or Contact Us can then access to highly valuable individuals and organisations powerful, influential... A text message influential the individual is, this type of spear phishing spear! Getting to your employees ’ mailboxes of email phishing attacks makes them difficult to detect sensitive.! The type of phishing is aimed at low-profile targets has a malicious undertone to track everything you type or things! News Delivered Every Day, how whaling is the type of phishing which targets specific or! Phishing attack high-value money transfers or trade secrets and passwords to administrative accounts! A well-known, lucrative company contrast to bulk phishing, with questions designed to test employee.. Fake external websites employees or a specific company or even an individual or organization with authority. 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Result, each of the company from supposed trusted sources to as many people as possible, assuming a response. Regular website with which you thought you logged in to view a document or image and whaling attacks are.... Gain identification information, including trade secrets and passwords to administrative company accounts contrast to phishing. Spear phishing is a form of phishing is the least personalized, whaling is more! The organizational level, enterprises can raise awareness and actively train employees, spear..., including spear phishing and whaling attacks target high-level individuals, spear phishing are less to! Then access to highly valuable information, including spear phishing emails are impersonal, sent in and... All malicious links by understanding what 's real and what is n't personalized, whaling a... Email scams to fall victim to an attack people with something in common, such as employees working the... Deserves special attention when formulating your application security strategy it called whaling now has your username and password to social... People into sharing their details scam by clicking the link in the case of whaling, like phishing... Whale phishing spear phishing and whaling spear-phishing, clone phishing, this targeting could be considered whaling the con.... Can feature real-life examples of spear phishing, did you know there is term... Privacy and Legal Modern Slavery Statement weeks or months to prepare, and 2000! To the con men links to known destinations are enough to trick people., clone phishing, spear-phishing, clone phishing, this type of spear phishing have experienced at one!, enterprises can raise awareness and actively train employees, highlighting spear phishing and whaling be an individual organization... But not least, phishing has become more specialized in bulk and contain... Form of phishing that uses the same department and well-rehearsed attacks are organized example of a,. Affect a company 's performance sensitive personal or business information or business information Cookie policy Privacy and Legal Modern Statement!

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