The news is full of reports of “spear-phishing attacks” being used
against governments, large corporations, and political activists.
Spear-phishing attacks are now the most common way corporate networks
are compromised, according to many reports.
Spear-phishing is a newer and more dangerous form of phishing.
Instead of a casting a wide net in hopes of catching anything at all,
the spear-phisher crafts a careful attack and aims it at individual
people or a specific department.
Phishing Explained
Phishing is the practice of impersonating someone trustworthy to try
and acquire your information. For example, a phisher might sent out
spam emails pretending to be from Bank of America asking you to click a
link, visit a fake Bank of America website (a phishing site), and enter
your banking details.
Phishing isn’t just limited to email, however. A phisher could
register a chat name like “Skype Support” on Skype and contact you via
Skype messages, saying that your account was compromised and they need
your password or credit card number to verify your identity. This has
also been done in online games, where scammers impersonate game
administrators and send messages asking for your password, which they
would use to steal your account. Phishing could also happen over the
phone. In the past, you may have received phone calls claiming to be
from Microsoft and saying you have a virus you must pay to remove.
Phishers generally cast a very wide net. A Bank of America phishing
email may be sent to millions of people, even people who don’t have
Bank of America accounts. Because of this, phishing is often fairly
easy to spot. If you don’t have a relationship with Bank of America and
get an email claiming to be from them, it should be very clear that the
email is a scam. Phishers depend on the fact that, if they contact
enough people, someone will eventually fall for their scam. This is the
same reason we still have spam emails – someone out there must be
falling for them or they wouldn’t be profitable.
Take a look at the anatomy of a phishing email for more information.
How Spear Phishing is Different
If traditional phishing is the act of casting a wide net in hopes of
catching something, spear phishing is the act of carefully targeting a
specific individual or organization and tailoring the attack to them
personally.
While most phishing emails aren’t very specific, a spear-phishing
attack uses personal information to make the scam seem real. For
example, rather than reading “Dear Sir, please to click this link for
fabulous wealth and riches” the email may say “Hi Bob, please read this
business plan we drafted at Tuesday’s meeting and let us know what you
think.” The email may appear to come from someone you know (possibly
with a forged email address,
but possibly with a real email address after the person was compromised
in a phishing attack) rather than someone you don’t know. The request
is more carefully crafted and looks like it could be legitimate. The
email could refer to someone you know, a purchase you’ve made, or
another piece of personal information.
Spear-phishing attacks on high-value targets can be combined with a
zero-day exploit
for maximum damage. For example, a scammer could email an individual at
a particular business saying “Hi Bob, would you please take a look at
this business report? Jane said you would give us some feedback.” with
a legitimate-looking email address. The link could go to a web page
with embedded Java or Flash content that takes advantage of the
zero-day to compromise the computer. (Java is particularly dangerous,
as most people have outdated and vulnerable Java plug-ins installed.)
Once the computer is compromised, the attacker could access their
corporate network or use their email address to launch targeted
spear-phishing attacks against other individuals in the organization.
A scammer could also attach a
dangerous file that’s disguised to look like a harmless file. For example, a spear-phishing email may have a PDF file that’s actually an .exe file attached.
Who Really Needs to Worry
Spear-phishing attacks are being used against large corporations and
governments to access their internal networks. We don’t know about
every corporation or government that has been compromised by successful
spear-phishing attacks. Organizations often don’t disclose the exact
type of attack that compromised them. They don’t even like to admit
they’ve been hacked at all.
A quick search reveals that organizations including the White House,
Facebook, Apple, the US Department of Defense, The New York Times, the
Wall Street Journal, and Twitter have all likely been compromised by
spear-phishing attacks. Those are just a few of the organizations we
know have been compromised – the extent of the problem is likely much
greater.
If an attacker really wants to compromise a high-value target, a
spear-phishing attack – perhaps combined with a new zero-day exploit
purchased on the black market – is often a very effective way to do so.
Spear-phishing attacks are often mentioned as the cause when a
high-value target is breached.
Protecting Yourself From Spear Phishing
As an individual, you’re less likely to be the target of such a
sophisticated attack than governments and massive corporations are.
However, attackers may still attempt to use spear-phishing tactics
against you by incorporating personal information into phishing emails.
It’s important to realize that phishing attacks are becoming more
sophisticated.
When it comes to phishing, you should be vigilant. Keep your
software up-to-date so you’re better protected against bring
compromised if you click links in emails. Be extra cautious when
opening files attached to emails. Beware of unusual requests for
personal information, even ones that seem as if they could be
legitimate. Don’t re-use passwords on different websites, just in case your password does get out.
Phishing attacks often try to do things that legitimate businesses
would never do. Your bank will never email you and ask for your
password, a business you’ve purchased goods from will never email you
and ask for your credit card number, and you’ll never get an instant
message from a legitimate organization asking you for your password or
other sensitive information. Don’t click links in emails and give out
sensitive personal information, no matter how convincing the phishing
email and phishing site is.
dangerous file
Like all forms of phishing, spear-phishing is a form of social
engineering attack that is particularly hard to defend against. All it
takes is one person making a mistake and the attackers will have
established a toehold in your network.
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