Phishing: What is it and how does it affect your company?

In 2023, Spain was one of the countries with the most phishing attacks. Many companies and individuals fell victim to some form of cyberattack through email, resulting in the loss of confidential information due to credential and password theft.

To give an idea of the severity of the situation, phishing attempts increased by 40% in Spain, and IT Reseller reports that over 67% of companies suffered a successful phishing attack in 2023.

What is phishing?

Phishing comes from the Spanish word 'pescar' or 'picar', which means 'to fish' or 'to hook'. Phishing is a type of cyberattack launched through email with the aim of deceiving the user into taking a specific action, such as clicking on a link to download an infected file or attempting to steal credentials by redirecting them to a fraudulent website with a fake form, hence its name.

The purpose of phishing is to obtain confidential or sensitive information that can compromise a company. The attackers' goals typically involve intercepting communications to gain economic benefits (e.g., changing the account number on an invoice) or trying to infect users' devices to gain access to resources or infect the device with viruses (e.g., malware or ransomware).

To achieve this, phishing emails are designed to blend in with legitimate commercial or informational emails, making it easy for users to be deceived."

How to prevent a phishing attack within your company

Having an antiphishing solution in place is one of the primary actions you should take within your company to prevent this type of attack and ensure the security of your employees and clients. However, there is another factor you should also consider, which can be a contributing factor to successful phishing attacks: the human factor, that is, your employees.

Providing training for your employees is crucial so that they can detect any phishing threat and avoid taking any actions that could compromise the company's information and data, thereby ensuring the security of your clients and your business.

How do we help you at ESED?

At ESED, as specialists in cybersecurity services, we have developed ESED Defense, a plan of active defense based on three pillars to combat any type of cyber attack: ESED Attack, which involves launching controlled attacks to identify vulnerabilities and gaps in your security system and address them; ESED Control, where we work on encrypting information to ensure its absolute security; and ESED Training, aimed at training your team to detect cyber attacks effectively.