Spear phishing and voice phishing (vishing) are on the rise in the trucking industry, according to a new report from the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA).
“Spear phishing is still one of the most effective tools attackers have to breach networks,” the report says.
“Also expected is an increase in Vishing, which is when a scammer calls a person pretending to be a reputable company or organization, or even a co-worker (or someone’s boss), and urges the person to provide personal or sensitive data or send money to a fraudulent account.”
The report also predicts a rise in phishing attacks that use QR codes to trick users into clicking on malicious links.
“The convenience of QR codes is training people to unthinkingly do the very thing that cybersecurity professionals say they should never do, which is to click on random links without knowing where they go,” the report says.
“Not only do QR codes encourage poor security practices, but they also obscure some of the techniques many would use to verify if a typical URL or hyperlink is safe to click on. With QR codes, attackers or scammers can trick users into visiting malicious sites or fool them by showing them things they can monetize, such as gift cards, discount coupons or cryptocurrency.”
The report notes that most ransomware attacks are preceded by phishing or other social engineering tactics.
“Hackers frequently use phishing scams to gain access to a carrier’s enterprise system,” the report says. “Once they can access the system, they use that access to launch ransomware attacks. Phishing attacks generally take the form of deceptive communications that trick people into clicking links or opening attachments. Trucking companies’ best preparation for, and defense against, these attacks is to thoroughly train their people on how to spot a phishing attack.”
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