Resources

Blog

QBot Campaigns Overwhelmingly Lead Reported Payloads in Q4

QBot was the most reported payload targeting employee inboxes in Q4, according to Fortra’s PhishLabs. This is the fourth consecutive month QBot has led malware activity as bad actors target organizations with a steady stream of high-volume attack campaigns. QBot previously represented the second most reported payload family, trailing behind RedLine Stealer in Q3. Email payloads remain the primary...
Blog

Advanced Information Security Features for Microsoft Office 365

In the last few years, Microsoft 365 (M365) has eclipsed all other cloud providers to emerge as the most widely used enterprise cloud service and the latest survey data shows that adoption of M365 is still increasing. It is not just impressive in its adoption rates, Microsoft has also been incremental evolving business technology; organizations now rely on cloud technology to function. However...
Blog

What Is an Enterprise’s Primary Line of Defense Against Phishing Emails?

Through a layered approach utilizing a comprehensive solution as the primary defense, Fortra fills major gaps in email platform security by protecting users from external threats and safeguarding your sensitive data from being leaked both inside and outside your organization.
Blog

What Is an Enterprise’s Secondary Line of Defense Against Phishing Emails?

Following a multi-layered approach to phishing defense is a good idea, but using what you have close to home is best when it comes to a sensible security posture. In practice, a robust security awareness training program is key to instruct employees on what to look for when trying to spot phishing emails that may have landed in their inboxes.
Blog

How to Recognize and Respond to Emerging Social Media Cybersecurity Threats

Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. LinkedIn. YouTube. Pinterest. Mastodon. The list goes on. Whether you love or loathe social media, these platforms have become integral to how we communicate as individuals and businesses. Cybercriminals have also taken note, embracing these communication channels wholeheartedly to reach vast audiences quickly, anonymously, and cheaply, successfully defrauding targets...
Blog

Holiday Season Triggers Rise in Counterfeit Activity

Counterfeit activity increases every year during the pre-holiday shopping blitz -- most notably Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and Hanukkah. Arm yourself with defenses now to combat ever-evolving counterfeiting methods during peak retail shopping season.
Blog

Financials & Card Data Top Q3 Targets on the Dark Web

In Q3, credit unions nearly overtook national banks as the top targeted industry on the Dark Web, according to recent data from Fortra’s PhishLabs.
Blog

Emails Reported as Malicious Reach Four-Quarter High in Q3

The volume of malicious emails reported in corporate inboxes has reached a four-quarter high, according to the latest data from Fortra's PhishLabs.
Blog

DKIM vs. SPF Email Standards: Do I Need Them Both?

When it comes to email authentication standards, should you use DKIM, SPF, or both? We’re going to cover these terms, when you should use them, what they do—and how best to protect your email domains. Is it Either/Or—or Both? Should the battle really be SPF vs. DKIM? While not mandatory, it’s highly recommended to use both SPF and DKIM to protect your email domains from spoofing attacks and fraud...
Blog

What Is the Meaning of the SPF Email Standard and How Does It Work?

We're going to delve into what the meaning of SPF for email is, how to implement it, the benefits of deploying it, and how to further protect your email-sending domains. What is SPF for Email? Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an email authentication standard that domain owners use to specify the email servers they send email from, making it harder for fraudsters to spoof sender information. SPF...
Blog

DKIM Guide: How to Set Up the Email Standard Step by Step

In this DKIM setup guide, we’ll walk you through the steps on how to set up DKIM correctly, test it, avoid common pitfalls, and fix common mistakes. In case you’re new to DKIM, or DomainKeys Identified Mail, we’ll start with a high-level overview before getting to the step-by-step instructions, but you can first look up your DKIM record here . What is DKIM? A Brief Introduction DKIM is a standard...
Blog

What Is Whaling Phishing & How Does It Work?

“Whaling” phishing fraud attacks target the C-suite of a company which creates high risk of extremely sensitive, mission-critical data being stolen and exposed. Fortunately, protecting the organization from these attacks is possible. Whaling phishing is a type of phishing attack targeting larger, high-value targets, which is why it's called "Whaling." Attackers themselves often pretend to be C...
Article

How to Mitigate Online Counterfeit Threats

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.
Blog

What Is Email Spoofing & How You Protect Against It

What is Email Spoofing? Email spoofing is one of the most common forms of cybercriminal activity, specifically a form of identity deception that's widely used in phishing and spam attacks. It underpins the mechanism required to conduct hacking activities, and it can take many forms. Unfortunately, most email users will eventually receive an email that has been spoofed—whether they know it or not...
Blog

How to Run Simulated Phishing Campaigns

Here's how to run a simulated phishing campaign to test and train your employees before they receive an actual phishing email. What is a Phishing Campaign? To be clear, when we say “phishing campaign,” we’re not referring to malicious, black-hat phishing campaigns. A simulated phishing campaign is part of an internal training program to raise employee awareness about real-world phishing attacks...
Article

Hybrid Vishing. It's Such A Thing.

In this podcast, John Wilson, senior fellow for threat research at, discusses how vishing, a tactic used to gain PII information from people through phone messages is - like its success - on the rise. Gain insight into this devious scam and the best defense against it.
Blog

The Definitive Report Analyzer: Deciphering DMARC

It takes years to build trusted relationships with your customers — but as all-too-familiar headlines and recounted tales of woe from IT departments tell us, cybercriminals can abuse that trust to trick your customers, employees, and partners into opening their malicious emails in a matter of minutes.  DMARC, or Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance, is an essential email...