Whale Phishing

Definition:

An assault, known as “whale phishing”, targets high-profile targets such as business executives, politicians, celebrities, and other well-known figures. If a high-ranking user falls prey to a phishing attempt, he or she might be referred to as a “whale” or a “big phish.”
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Spear phishing techniques are employed in whale phishing as well. The term “spear-phishing” describes this kind of scam.

Introduction:

To obtain sensitive information from a corporation, an assault known as “whaling phishing” or simply “the whaling phishing attack” targets high-profile personnel. High-profile personnel include those such as the CEO and CFO, to name just a few. One of the main goals of whale phishing attacks is to deceive the victim into authorizing large wire transfers to the attacker’s bank account. Social engineering strategies may be used to achieve this. There is speculation that the whales were picked for their influence inside the company because of their size. Whaling attacks are more difficult to detect and resist than more standard phishing efforts because of their particular character. Information security awareness training may help prevent whale attacks from succeeding in an organization if security administrators urge corporate managers to participate.

Detail about whale phishing:

It is the combination of two words

  • Whaling
  • Phishing

Phishing

Sending harmful emails from supposedly reputable sources to as many individuals as possible in the hopes of getting just a small percentage of recipients to respond is known as phishing. There are many ways in which an email can be a phishing scam, such as claiming to be from PayPal and requesting that a recipient verify their account information by clicking a link contained in the email. • Phishing emails are impersonal, sent in bulk and often contain spelling errors or other mistakes that reveal their malicious intent. It’s just that not everyone is able to pick up on these signals. To get individuals to hand up their personal information, it’s all about trusting brands and well-known places. In contrast, spear phishing emails are more difficult to detect since they originate from sources that are very close to the intended recipient. Cyber-thieves target specific individuals or groups of people, like colleagues in the same department, using customized emails.

Whaling

High-level decision-makers inside a business, such as CEOs, CFOs, and other executives, are targeted via fraudulent email communications sent by whalers. There are a number of things that these people have access to, such as trade secrets and administrative corporate account passwords. The attacker pretends to be a person or organization with genuine authority in order to send vital business-related emails. An attacker may, for example, write an email to the CEO of a firm seeking money, claiming to be a customer. Whenever a whaling assault is launched, the intended victims are always identified by name, title, and phone number, all of which may be found on corporate websites, social media, or in the media. To put it simply, whaling only targets the highest-ranking members of an organization, whereas spear phishing is more likely to target lower-ranking members of the same company.

Example of Whale Phishing:

Here are some examples of businesses that fell victim to whaling attacks to give you an idea of how damaging this type of cybercrime can be.

Hedge fund co-founder targeted via Zoom

When an Australian hedge fund’s co-founder clicked on a bogus Zoom link in November 2020, malware was planted on their network. Using bogus invoices, the attackers sought to take $8.7 million. After everything was said and done, they barely walked away with $800,000. But the reputational damage was enough to cost Levitas one of its most important customers, forcing the hedge fund to close.

Aerospace firm fires CEO after $58 million whaling loss

For his role in a 2016 whaling assault that cost FACC roughly $58 million, the CEO of the Austrian Aerospace Firm FACC was terminated. An official statement from the firm said that CEO Walter Stephen allowed the assault to take place because he had “severely breached his duty. “The proprietor of a small company loses $50,000. It’s not only the huge corporations that lose millions of dollars from whaling; small businesses are also harmed. According to “Mark,” the proprietor of a modest real-estate business, an account takeover assault was the root cause of his company’s downfall. A hacker intercepted Mark’s email chat with his partner and used the chance to redirect a $50,000 bank transfer in this clever strike. 

Discussion:

How to Prevent Whale Phishing?

Whaling attacks may be dangerous, so you may be asking how you can avoid falling for them or prevent them from even reaching your inbox in the first place now that you realize the perils of them. What is your best option? Intelligent email security software may be used in conjunction with security education and training. Customers’ tales and demo requests might provide you with more insight into the problem-solving capabilities of Tessian. Alternatively, you may subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the newest assaults and learn more about whaling. Put in place email filters that identify messages from “outside the company” as “external.” A quick glance at the sender’s address lets them know whether an email has arrived. Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions like Clear swift typically have this feature. Create policies and procedures for sensitive tasks such as wire transfers or sending financial information. Having someone approve these requests or use a secondary channel helps catch phishing attempts in action before it’s too late. Make phishing awareness training mandatory for everyone in your company. Fake phishing emails and personalized training are used to assess how well employees understand email security. Put money into expert security services. Defending against whale assaults is complicated because of the many moving pieces. In order to prevent phishing assaults from ever making it to the inbox, companies may work with groups like Agari.

Conclusion:

Whaling phishing assaults can only be thwarted by the use of traditional technology and methods. Increased awareness and unfettered communication lines are two efficient strategies to prevent a company’s coffers and image from being damaged by well-crafted whaling assaults in 2021 when many big corporations have at least a few teams working remotely.

 

 

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