Anti-phishing guide to avoid taking the bait of a computer attack: advice and tools

The global impact of phishing is estimated at 3.5 billion dollars in 2024. It has become the most common cyber attack, with the number of attempts increasing by 58% over the same year. These figures underline the importance of a preventive approach.

So we've put together a complete anti-phishing guide, with reference tools and practical advice for optimum protection.

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Reminder: what is phishing?

In practical terms, what is phishing? What are the dangers for businesses? What are the main types of phishing? We'll explain the concept and what's at stake.

Definition and issues

Phishing is a form of Internet fraud. This typical type of cyber attack generally works as follows.

You receive an e-mail that you identify as coming from a trusted source (partner, delivery company, public institution, etc.). However, if you pay close enough attention to the document, you may pick up clues (inaccurate logo, spelling mistakes, dubious URL) that indicate that the sender is not who they claim to be. 🥷

The message indicates a "technical problem" and asks you to enter your personal details, particularly bank details. It is often accompanied by a sense of urgency to create stress.

This is a particularly pernicious type of cyber attack, because it relies on the trust of victims and their habits. That's why it's called a social engineering attack. The scam is not "technical", but "psychological".

The consequences can be very serious:

• identity theft
• theft of money
• access to your personal or business accounts, etc.

What is the difference between spam and phishing?

Spam is junk mail. It is invasive advertising that is generally sent en masse. It may be sent as a result of subscribing to a newletter, or sometimes without any solicitation on your part. Its purpose is purely commercial and, unlike phisigin, it does not involve any element of fraud.

The main types of phishing

• Email phishing: This is the most common type of phishing. This type of phishing takes the form of an urgent email, which is generally easy to detect.

• Spear phishing: This type of phishing targets a specific group or type of person. Within a company, it is often the administration and finance teams that are phished.

• Whaling: Whaling is an even more targeted type of phishing that targets "whales". It is aimed at CEOs, CFOs and other senior people in an organisation. The whaling message often indicates a legal risk.

• Vishing: This technique uses voice communication (telephone, voicemail) to obtain information. The fraudster may pose as a bank or customer service representative.

• Smishing: Smishing is carried out by SMS. The messages generally contain links to fraudulent sites or an invitation to call a premium-rate number.

• Quishing: A new trend, quishing uses QR codes to redirect victims to malicious sites. They are increasingly present in public places and in digital communications.

Why use anti-phishing software?

Anti-phishing software offers many benefits for your business:

• Better protection of your sensitive data: Security against information theft, detection of identity theft and blocking of dubious senders.

• Saves valuable time (and bandwidth): No need for your staff to process spam, saving bandwidth for essential messages.

• Regular updates: anti-phishing technology constantly adapts to the techniques used by hackers.

• 24/7 protection: Unlike employees, anti-phishing software offers uninterrupted protection with no loss of vigilance.

• Full traceability: Anti-phishing tools provide detailed reports, offering total visibility of the threats targeting your organisation.

Our advice for protecting your business against phishing

How can you protect yourself against phishing? For maximum security, you need to establish a strategy based on the following key elements: vigilance and staff training, as well as the integration of high-performance, up-to-date protection tools.

Solution number 1: vigilance

Comply with security best practice every time you open a potentially sensitive email. Be even more vigilant when you are asked for personal information.

Never open an attachment or click on a suspicious link, even if it's in an email that looks official.

Here are some warning signs:

• Spelling or grammatical errors.

• An urgent request for personal information.

• An incorrect e-mail address.

Train and educate your teams in phishing techniques

Make your teams aware of the risks of phishing campaigns. Train employees in the most sensitive departments (IT, accounting, etc.) to analyse the signs of potential phishing and to report it at the first sign of doubt.

Install high-performance anti-phishing software

For optimum protection against phishing, it is essential to install robust anti-phishing software. It will automatically filter suspicious e-mails, check links and attachments before you click on them, and block risky domain names in real time. Comprehensive, high-performance security.

Up-to-date software and security tools

Installing security tools is not enough. You also need to update them when necessary. This is the best way of ensuring that you are always at the cutting edge of online security.

How does an anti-phishing tool work?

An anti-phishing tool acts as a multi-layered defence system. It has a single objective: to protect you against the risks of phishing.

To do this, the first line of defence is URL filtering. The anti-phishing software analyses each incoming link and its source, and compares them with its database of malicious sites.

The second level of protection is heuristic analysis. The software studies the content of messages to identify inconsistencies and suspicious signs.

The anti-phishing tool also incorporates active defence systems. Deploy alerts, test links in a sandbox environment, quarantine suspicious messages... Your solution protects you autonomously.

As an added bonus, some solutions also incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to identify emerging threats.

What is the best anti-phishing solution?

Looking for a high-performance anti-phishing solution? We've put together a list of the best software for detecting phishing threats in your organisation's inboxes. Find out about their main features and benefits.

Altospam

Altospam is the number 1 protection solution for your corporate mailboxes. With its Mailsafe security software, there is no longer any risk of online phishing. Thanks to high-performance heuristic and behavioural analysis, it detects the most sophisticated suspicious messages. Incorporating proprietary AI features, it reduces the risk of false positives to a minimum (less than 0.01%). This saves your teams valuable time.

Altospam integrates perfectly with the messaging systems of the main office suites, such as Google Workplace and Microsoft 360°. As well as Mailsaife, Altospam also offers an additional service called Mailout to secure your outgoing emails. No more risk of virus propagation or balcklisting. Combine the two solutions for 100% secure messaging.

Altospam

+200 reviews

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Advanced Email Protection with Hassle-Free Setup

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Barracuda Email Protection

Barracuda Network offers several IT security modules. Its offering includes Barracuda Email Protection to protect your email inbox from ransomware, malware and phishing attempts. Barracuda Email Protection detects and neutralises threats using the following features:

• Behavioural and heuristic detection

• Protection against identity theft

• Domain name validation system.

To take your security against social engineering attacks even further, Barracuda offers an AI-based analysis model: Barracuda Impersonation Protection.

EventLog Analyzer (ManageEngine)

EventLog Analyzer is a comprehensive security solution from ManageEngine. The software stands out for its high capacity to process threats in real time (600 million malicious IP addresses analysed live). The software's database is constantly updated to ensure rapid adaptation to new threats.

EventLog Analyzer is also effective against data theft. It is aimed at companies and organisations with an IT department.

EventLog Analyzer

12 reviews

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IT Analysis and Monitoring for Network Security

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GravityZone Small Business Security (Bitdefender)

As its name suggests, GravityZone Small Business Security is security software aimed at small and medium-sized businesses. It offers comprehensive protection against the risks of cyber attacks, including phishing.

It automatically blocks phishing sites by displaying a warning page to users. This feature also extends to other scams, such as fake company websites.

The software is easy to manage via a centralised, user-friendly interface. You can track, manage and automate cybersecurity events without requiring additional IT resources or servers. Perfect for SMEs.

GravityZone by Bitdefender

70 reviews

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Multilayer cybersecurity for SMEs without in-house IT

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Harmony Endpoint (Check Point)

The strength of Check Point Harmony Endpoint lies in its multi-layered protection. The software secures all your vulnerable points: email, mobile devices and workstations.

Its flagship solution, Harmony Email & Office, integrates seamlessly with Office 365 and G-Suite. It adds an extra layer of defence that does nothing to disrupt your existing infrastructure.

Powered by ThreatCloud AI, the solution analyses every email in depth and can examine over 300 indicators to detect hidden threats.

Administrators using Harmony Email & Office also benefit from a clear, intuitive interface.

Kaspersky Small Office Security

Kaspersky Small Office Security is a cybersecurity solution designed for VSEs and SMEs looking for immediate protection with no complex configuration. When it comes to phishing, the software combines a real-time database of fraudulent sites with proactive behavioural analysis.

The result: phishing attempts by email, instant messaging or website are blocked before the user even clicks. The tool also includes monitoring of malicious attachments and scripts, as well as a banking protection module to prevent misappropriation during online payments.

Easy to deploy on several workstations, it also enables managers to manage the security of all employees via a centralised console. A complete solution for increasing vigilance against digital scams, without sacrificing ease of use.

Kaspersky SmallOffice Security

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Cybersecurity Solution for Small Businesses

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Mailinblack

Mailinblack uses Deep Learning technology trained on 6 billion emails a year. Thanks to this continuous learning, the software offers highly effective proactive protection.

Mailinblack's AI detects the weak signals of targeted attacks and can block zero-day threats. This gives you highly effective protection against phishing, spear phishing, ransomware and spam.

Another advantage is its intelligent filtering. This feature allows you to customise the level of security and adapt it to the specific needs of your organisation.

For even greater security, the Protect Advanced version offers enhanced filtering with advanced heuristic analysis and dual anti-virus.

Phished

Phished is an original phishing expert in the cyber defence ecosystem. Its approach? To prioritise IT protection through training.

Unlike traditional solutions that focus solely on technical filtering, Phished focuses on the human element as the first line of defence against cyber attacks.

The platform offers comprehensive cyber-resilience training that transforms your employees into veritable sentinels capable of recognising the most sophisticated phishing attempts.

The results are in: more than 3,500 companies have adopted Phished and are reporting a dramatic reduction in the phishing rate.

The platform constantly updates its knowledge so that administrators are always one step ahead of emerging threats.

Phished

139 reviews

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Enhance Cyber Awareness with Phishing Training Software

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How do you choose the right anti-phishing tool? 4 criteria

To choose the right anti-phishing tool, the following criteria need to be considered: detection capabilities, integration with your infrastructure, reporting capabilities and the quality of technical support.

Advanced detection capabilities

The first point to check when selecting your anti-phishing software is its key features. It must incorporate a real-time protection system to detect phishing attempts before they reach your inbox. The tool should also be able to analyse suspicious links and attachments. You should also opt for software that incorporates AI and machine learning technologies for even more effective detection.

Optimum integration with your infrastructure

Performance isn't everything when it comes to IT security. Integration with your system is also a key factor to consider. The tool must be 100% compatible with your email system (Office 365, Gmail, etc.). It must also integrate with your security system (firewall and antivirus) and be easy to deploy across your various departments.

Reporting and management resources

Your anti-phishing solution must offer centralised management. With an intuitive dashboard, you'll benefit from detailed reports on blocked phishing attempts, customisable alerts for critical attacks, and so on. Everything you need to analyse the performance of your software and adapt it to your specific needs.

Responsiveness and quality of support

Quality anti-phishing software is software that performs well over time. The company that develops it must be committed to adapting it to new threats with regular updates. It must also offer you responsive technical support and comprehensive documentation.

Mistakes to avoid when choosing an anti-phishing tool

To make the right choice of anti-phishing software, here are the mistakes to avoid:

• Choosing your tool solely on the basis of price.

• Not testing the tool (demo, free trial).

• Don't involve your IT teams in your choice.

• Not taking an interest in customer feedback.

• Neglect team training.

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Boost your IT security: adopt anti-phishing software

The fight against phishing is an absolute priority for your company's IT security. Training your staff is the first line of defence against this type of risk.

For more comprehensive protection, anti-phishing software is essential. As we have seen, the market today offers a variety of effective solutions.

Tools such as Altospam, Barracuda and Mailinblack focus more on technical filtration. EventLog Analyzer and GravityZone are more comprehensive protection software.

Select the option that meets your company's specific needs to get the best possible return on investment.

Adopt a combined approach, awareness and technical protection, so you never take the bait again.