You Know About Phishing, But What Is Whaling And Why Do You Need To Know About It?

What Is A Whaling Attack?

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Most of us know what phishing is, but are you familiar with the terms “spear-phishing” and “whaling”?

Phishing attacks target a broad spectrum of individuals, spear-phishing attacks target any particular individual, and whaling attacks focus on high-level positions in an organization.

The whaling target in an organization is usually the CEO, CFO, or other high-level executives usually in the HR or accounting divisions. The cybercriminal impersonates the senior management in order to leverage their authority and gain sensitive information or money.

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Where We Come In

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We have foiled these attacks before that would have cost our clients 6 or 7 figures. The biggest mistake we see companies do that leads to a whaling attack is the oversharing of information online.

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Many company websites will have an "About Us" section showcasing the employees, their positions in the company, and some potentially important information about them. If a cybercriminal is able to make a false front appearing as one of the employees or even the main director, this could be a way to gain access and information from other employees.

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Our team at Cyber Unit can train your employees to properly detect a phishing, spear-phishing or whaling scam so you can hopefully avoid a future attack. Get in touch to find out how we can help defend you from cyber attacks, so you can have peace of mind.

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Click here to contact us!