Ostra
  • Email Sign Up
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Technology
  • Clients
  • Partners
  • About
    • Careers
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Field Report: ” Phished by Association”

July 25, 2022/in Cybersecurity 101, Security /by Stacey Kusnier

By Ostra Cybersecurity Defense Team

When it comes to phishing, attackers are becoming highly creative in the way they deliver the phish. They are doing a lot more reconnaissance work and it is our duty to ensure we are being more alert to avoid this form of social engineering.

SIGNS OF DANGER

Recently, Ostra came across a case of “phishing by association” that is a great reminder of why it is important for businesses to foster open and transparent relationships with vendors and partners.

One Friday evening, a client contacted us to say that she strongly believed her workstation had been compromised. After hearing her concerns, the Ostra Cybersecurity Defense Team started vigorously working on the situation.

We began with a few questions to get more information as to why she believed her environment had been compromised. She mentioned a vendor she was doing business with had been breached, and the cyber criminals sent phishing emails to their contacts. When she received the phishing email, she unfortunately clicked on it because she thought it was a legitimate email from the vendor.

CONTAINING THE THREAT

The first thing Ostra encouraged the client to do was to reset all her passwords. In situations like this, attackers are gathering credentials to hold for future use. Changing passwords immediately prevents the use of the credentials.

After ensuring the client changed her passwords, we immediately started reviewing her traffic logs to search for any suspicious events.

Fortunately, everything seemed healthy on her workstation and connected devices. However, Ostra continued to monitor the situation over the weekend and through the following week until we were satisfied that no damage had been done and her environment was secure.

Eunice Asemnor, Security Analyst at Ostra, stated that it was especially helpful that the client reached out immediately after clicking the email in this case. “It gave our Cyber Defense Team the ability to promptly remediate and handle the situation.” She added that this scenario illustrates the importance of being cautious with every email you receive—even from trusted vendors.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THE TRAIL

Although many phishing emails come from strangers, “phishing by association” is a tactic where cyber criminals send emails that appear to originate from a vendor that the client has worked with in the past.

Shown above is an example of what this type of phishing email might look like, along with some clues that it warrants further scrutiny.

Even if a company has all the best cybersecurity measures in place, they can still be vulnerable to attacks if their third-party vendors are not protected. This is why Ostra encourages clients to build trust through proactive communication with outside vendors, while also holding them accountable to ensure they are keeping up with the best security practices.

5 Tips for Phishing Prevention

Ostra recommends taking the following steps to minimize your risk of falling victim to a phishing scheme:

  1. When using email, always be careful and take necessary precautions before clicking links or opening attachments.
  2. Watch for the following red flags, which are indications that the email could be a phishing attempt:
    • Spelling mistakes, typos, unusual phrases or poor grammar.
    • Calls to action that include deadlines or suggested consequences to create panic.
  1. Beware of bogus links. Like in the case of our client, phishing attempts may include a legitimate-looking link. Simply hover your mouse over the link and it will reveal the actual URL. Most trustworthy banks and financial institutions use “https://” in their URL. You can also search for the company’s official website, and then compare their domain to the URL being represented in the email.
  2. Be diligent in examining “From” addresses, which can be forged to appear legitimate. Attackers can use a minor typo to make it appear like it is coming from your CEO or bank. Be very alert to check if the email is coming from a true source.
  3. Emails requesting personal information should always be handled with care. Do not provide usernames, passwords, or other personal company information without due diligence.

NEED A CYBER GUIDE?

At Ostra, we pride ourselves on educating our clients and providing Fortune 100-caliber cybersecurity to businesses of every size—including small and medium-sized companies. To explore how you can get started with a trusted cybersecurity advisor to better protect your business or clients from phishing attempts, ransomware and other cyber threats, contact Ostra today.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Share on Vk
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Recent Posts

  • Ostra Cybersecurity Expands Senior Leadership Team
  • Spot the Signs of Tax-Time Phishing Scams
  • Protecting What We Value: Why Data Privacy Is Worth the Effort
  • Ostra Cybersecurity Expands Partner Success Team
  • Ostra’s Year in Review
  • Ostra Cybersecurity Adds Director for Rapidly Expanding Channel Partner Network
  • Employee Spotlight: Eunice Asemnor, Security Analyst
  • PRESS RELEASE: Ostra Cybersecurity Secures Capital to Bring Fortune 100-Caliber Protection to Small and Mid-Sized Businesses
  • “Who Can You Trust” – A Hacks and Hops Session Recap
  • Why Businesses Keep Losing the War on Cyber Terror: Part 3

Archives

Contact

Ostra Cybersecurity, Inc.
6101 Baker Rd
Suite 202
Minnetonka, MN 55345

contact@ostra.net    (866) 336-7872

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get Social

© 2023 Ostra Cybersecurity, Inc. -
  • Website Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Accept

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy