Most security leaders are acutely aware of the threat phishing scams pose to enterprise security. What garners less attention is the vast amount of publicly available information about organizations and their employees that enables these attacks.
Kaspersky researchers recently examined the different methods cybercriminals use to gather publicly available and seemingly non-threatening information about companies and dox, or attack, them with it. The security vendor found adversaries are putting considerably more effort and resources into gathering data for enterprise attacks than they would in attacks on individual users because of the potentially higher monetary payoffs.
"Public data is the first step to collecting private data," says Roman Dedenok, security researcher at Kaspersky. Contrary to perception, attackers don't always need to hack into systems in order to gain access to an organization's confidential data, he says. It's often easier for cybercriminals to hack an organization using the human factor, Dedenok says. "Cybercriminals can use public information to collect private data and also get access to the company's finances and cause damage to reputation."
Kaspersky found that publicly accessible online sources, including social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook, are the primary and often richest sources of information for phishers and other cybercriminals. Such platforms often reveal the names and positions of employees and key executives such as the CEO, head of HR, and people in charge of finance and accounting.
The information publicly available on these sites — such as a top executive's 'friends' or connections — can help adversaries quickly figure out an organization's hierarchy, an executive's direct subordinates, and other information that can b ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
