You will learn to understand the different whale attack techniques used by today’s cybercriminals as well as whale protection tips that you can use to protect your business data and servers.
Whaling, in cyber security, is a form of phishing that targets valuable individuals. This typically means high-ranking officials and governing and corporate bodies. The purpose of whaling is to acquire an administrator’s credentials and sensitive information.
Whaling is a phishing technique used to impersonate a senior executive in hopes of stealing company funds or sensitive data from another senior executive. Cybercriminals use whaling attacks to impersonate an organization’s top management, such as a CEO, CFO, or other executive, hoping to use the authority of an organization’s top management to gain access to sensitive data or money.
Whaling is a technique used by cybercriminals to masquerade as high-ranking actors in an organization and directly attack seniors or other important individuals in an organization to steal money or confidential information or gain access to their computer systems for criminal purposes. Whaling is a specific form of spear phishing that targets specific, well-known victims within a company.
Whaling Attacks Are More Sophisticated
While phishing attacks are sent out en masse, whaling attacks target specific individuals who are considered whales due to their high position in a valuable organization. While regular email phishing attacks usually involve sending emails to a large number of people without knowing how many of them will be successful, email whale attacks usually target one specific person at a time, typically a high-ranking person with very personalized information.
Attackers often use social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to gather personal information about their victim and make a phishing attack more believable. Because high-level targets fear phishing attacks, hackers use a variety of strategies to make their whaling campaign a success.
Cybercriminals can use sophisticated social engineering strategies to successfully carry out whaling attacks because they know that leaders of modern organizations use various strategies and tools to combat phishing. In whaling phishing, cyber attackers require deep research into the target organization, a deep understanding of its business processes, and planned steps to use the best tactics.
Whaling Increases Alongside Phishing
As phishing attacks increase, organizations and businesses need to take adequate security measures to protect themselves from targeted cybercrimes such as whaling attacks. It is essential to educate managers and employees to be vigilant and prepared for any phishing scams. Senior executives and directors of companies that are at high risk of phishing attacks should pay attention to the information transmitted.
In the case of phishing, all employees, not just senior management, should be trained on the attacks and how to detect them. Organizations should provide whaling awareness programs to educate employees on best practices to prevent such threats. Organize training courses to educate employees on anti-whaling phishing tactics and how to avoid it.
Most importantly, implement a phishing awareness education program, with content specifically targeted to managers and employees, targeting the public about whaling emails they may be receiving. A multi-faceted phishing awareness program will not only teach key whaling prevention principles, but also allow employees to safely test those skills. Organizations can strengthen their defenses and educate potential whaling targets, as well as introduce some specific whaling best practices.
Organizations Can Protect Themselves Against Whaling
An organization can reduce the threat of whaling attacks by learning how to detect phishing attempts by hackers, how to check the URL, email address, links and attachments in an email for warning signs. Companies can partner with organizations like Agari to develop an anti-phishing plan that prevents whaling attacks from getting into the mailbox.
While there are many methods used by phishing attackers on unsuspecting victims, there are just as many strategies that companies can use to implement anti-phishing protection. To better understand the difference between whaling and other forms of email attacks, let’s take a quick look at the different types of phishing attacks.
Whaling attacks, also known as whaling phishing or whaling phishing attacks, are a specific type of phishing attack that targets high-level employees such as CEOs or CFOs in order to steal information reserved for the company. Whaling is a type of spear phishing that targets senior members of an organization, such as senior executives or senior government officials.
Whaling Targets Gullible Management
Whaling, known as a CEO scam, is similar to phishing in that it uses methods such as email and website spoofing to force the target to perform certain actions, such as leaking sensitive data or transferring funds. Whaling differs from phishing in that it targets high-ranking, famous and wealthy people – CEOs, senior executives and even celebrities.
Unlike phishing, which is an umbrella term for any attempt to trick a victim into sharing sensitive information with an unspecified target, whaling uses a specific target—perhaps the top management of an organization. Attackers impersonate well-known brands and, in the case of a whaling attack, masquerade as a trusted leader in an organization, tricking recipients into clicking malicious links or sending sensitive information.
While phishing scams target non-specific individuals while spear phishing targets specific individuals, whaling goes the extra mile because it not only targets these key individuals, but also makes the scam message sent from someone, especially a senior or someone influential.
Whalers Target Individuals
Whaling attacks always target individuals, often using their title, location, and phone number obtained through corporate websites, social media, or the press. Whaling can become even more compelling if cybercriminals use meaningful research that uses open resources such as social media to create a personalized experience tailored to these target individuals. Cybersecurity is a subset of phishing attacks that use a specific targeting method created by cybercriminals to impersonate a specific member of a business or organization.
Whaling is a sophisticated spear phishing attack in which threat actors directly target or masquerade as high-level actors in an organization to deceive others. A whaling attack is a type A phishing attack that targets senior executives such as CEOs or CFOs to steal sensitive company A information. Like all phishing attacks, successful whaling attempts against high-profile targets still rely on stationary targeting, often under the guise of urgency.
