91% of All Baiting Attacks Use Gmail to Collect Intel on Potential Victims



Baiting Attacks Using GmailThis rudimentary form of phishing contains no malicious links or attachments but serves a very important purpose for cybercriminals and scammers looking to better target victims.

I’ve talked about spear phishing attacks that often incur a lot of up-front diligence to identify who within an organization should be targeted and what details will assist with social engineering the intended response from the recipient victim. The security researchers at Barracuda have spotlighted a subset of phishing attacks that has the same purpose: baiting attacks.

Bait Attacks are initial emails with little-to-no content in them at all and are used for reconnaissance. They are intended to be used to either validate a victim’s email address as being valid or to engage in an email conversation using only a simple initial question. They are benign in function, but devious in intent.

Barracuda analyzed data from 10,500 organizations and found that the overwhelming majority of bait attacks (91%) use Gmail – likely for its ease of setting up multiple accounts and for its implied legitimacy.

Barracuda recommend a few protective measures:

  1. Use AI-based solutions to spot and block bait attacks
  2. Remove bait messages from Inboxes ASAP
  3. Have users undergo Security Awareness Training to teach them how to identify and report bait attacks to IT

Free Phishing Security Test

Would your users fall for convincing phishing attacks? Take the first step now and find out before bad actors do. Plus, see how you stack up against your peers with phishing Industry Benchmarks. The Phish-prone percentage is usually higher than you expect and is great ammo to get budget.

PST ResultsHere's how it works:

  • Immediately start your test for up to 100 users (no need to talk to anyone)
  • Select from 20+ languages and customize the phishing test template based on your environment
  • Choose the landing page your users see after they click
  • Show users which red flags they missed, or a 404 page
  • Get a PDF emailed to you in 24 hours with your Phish-prone % and charts to share with management
  • See how your organization compares to others in your industry

Go Phishing Now!

PS: Don't like to click on redirected buttons? Cut & Paste this link in your browser:

https://www.knowbe4.com/phishing-security-test-offer

Topics: Phishing



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