Traditional email security products struggle to detect email impersonation threats such as Business Email Compromise (BEC) and spear phishing campaigns. These threats consistently bypass defenses that rely on signatures and policies like Secure Email Gateways and native-cloud email filters. This guide breaks down how Fortra uses advanced data science, including machine learning models, to find and mitigate attacks that slip past traditional email defenses.
The broad scope of counterfeit campaigns and unclear boundaries of abuse make it challenging to successfully mitigate online threats targeting retail brands. There is a fine line between infringement and fair use of publicly made materials, as well as immeasurable online environments where counterfeit campaigns may live and grow.
Have you ever received a blank email from someone you don’t know? If you have, it may have been from a cybercriminal making sure your email account is legitimate prior to a Business Email Compromise (BEC) attack. Agari and PhishLabs define BEC as any response-based spear phishing attack involving the impersonation of a trusted party to trick victims into making an unauthorized financial...
Transcript
Social engineering is the use of idiosyncrasies of the way our brains work to trick us into doing something we would otherwise not do.
Let me give you an example. Suppose that you live in an apartment complex that has a secure gate and everyone at that complex has been told, "Don't let strangers in. Don't hold the door for anyone." I could use a...
Table of Contents
Who is Scarlet Widow?
Femmes Fictionale and Counterfeit Romeos
The Long Con: Making Moves for Money
Starry Eyes for Starling Michael
Up Close and Personal: The Case of "Robert Blackwell"
...
Understanding The Threats
Today’s modern identity-based email attacks exploit the identity of trusted colleagues and brands. However, each varies in the tactics and techniques used. Understanding the differences will be critical in being able to effectively and accurately stop these attacks.
Customer Phishing: Cybercriminals use brand impersonation techniques such as domain spoofing and...
Executive Summary
Los Angeles Federal Credit Union (LAFCU) was in the crosshairs of email scammers. Its brand was constantly being spoofed, putting its members at risk of being defrauded. The CTO prioritized email security as part of his broader risk management strategy, and selected Agari as his partner. That was more than a decade ago. Today, domain spoofing is at near-zero.
"Our initial goal...
While many cybercriminal gangs scam medium-sized and large corporations, Agari has now uncovered and documented the practices of a Nigeria-based scammer group, dubbed Scarlet Widow, that has evolved a different strategy focused on more vulnerable sectors such as school districts, universities, and nonprofits.
In this report, we uncover:
How Scarlet...
Why Integrated Email Threat Data Matters
Email is a primary vector for attacks on your business today—and email threats are evolving faster than ever. But actionable data about email attacks is often inaccessible to time-strapped security operations and incident response teams. That disconnect leaves your business vulnerable and unable to mitigate hidden email threats.
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Social media threats targeting enterprises more than doubled last year. Attacks on the retail industry specifically have grown, as threat actors are targeting victims with impersonation and counterfeit ad campaigns.
Purchasing behavior is increasingly influenced by social media, making it an attractive vector for these kinds of campaigns. The tendency of social media users to consume information...
As the world becomes more and more dependent on online resources to complete daily tasks, such as work meetings, grocery shopping, and even exercising, the risk of cyber attacks, data breaches, and information stealing increases. If you’re not already protecting your personal information online, now is the perfect time to start, as Data Privacy Weeks kicks off today.Led by the National Cyber...
Wondering what Brand Indicators for Message Identification actually means? Here, we’ll cover the basics of BIMI, what the BIMI-selector header is, what it does, whether you need it, and how to implement it. But first, do you really need the BIMI-selector header? In most cases, you only need the BIMI-selector header if you want to support multiple logos for multiple brands or subdomains. Otherwise,...
Over the course of my technical career, I’ve always thought of Oauth2 to, frankly, be a bit of a pain. Oauth2 offers a mind boggling amount of possibilities and is the basis of many authorization workflows.However, I have found the documentation and supporting examples of how to integrate Oauth2 somewhat lacking. I hope that someone out in the ether will find this blog post and save a few days of...
What is email spoofing, how does it work, and why is it so dangerous to your company? We’ll explain everything you need to proactively stop attackers from spoofing your email address.
Email Spoofing: What Is It?
Email spoofing is when a fraudster forges an email header’s ‘From’ address to make it appear as if it was sent by someone else, usually a known contact like a high-level executive or...
Amid a troubling rise in zero-day phishing attacks, recent research suggests that some companies may be making an ill-advised shift away from blocking advanced email threats to responding to them post-delivery. If true, the capitulation couldn't come at a worse time. Since January, cybercriminals taking advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak have been targeting businesses and individuals with an...
Are you protecting your remote workers against an endless barrage of COVID-19 related phishing attacks by requiring 2-factor authentication (2FA) to log into employee email accounts? Smart move—just don't let it give you a false sense of security.