In a phishing attack, a perpetrator will usually disguise their fraudulent communication with the logo of a reputable organization. For example, a hacker might send you an email that appears to be from Target, the hugely popular department store, stating that you have an unpaid balance and must log in to your account to pay or send your credit card information to them in a reply. The hacker is relying on the fact that you won’t notice that the email isn’t actually from Target, and that you will willingly hand over your sensitive information. These cybercriminals often use many tactics to make sure that you don’t notice, like mimicking the format of a legitimate email from Target or creating an email address that looks nearly identical to Target’s real email address. If Target’s real customer service email were “customerservice@target.com,” then the hacker might send their phishing email from “customerservice@targetstore.com” or “cust0merservice@targett.com.” The act of copying/mimicking a well-known brand in order to carry out a cyber-attack is called “spoofing.” Spoofing can be applied to emails, phone calls, websites, and more.
Most Spoofed Brands
Some brands are used in spoofing attacks more than others due to their recognizability, reputation, or popularity. The most imitated brands tend to be in the tech industry, followed by the shipping and retail industries. According to a report released by Check Point Research, Walmart was the most imitated brand by hackers in the first quarter of 2023, making up about 16% of all attempts. This was a big jump from their spot in 13th place in 2022. After Walmart, there was DHL, Microsoft, LinkedIn, FedEx, Google, Netflix, Raiffeisen, and PayPal. Some of these brands have consistently been at the top of the list, while others, like Walmart, have recently moved up into the spotlight. The report states that the jump in Walmart’s ranking is most likely due to a massive phishing campaign that has been going on since early this year. This campaign consists of fraudulent emails claiming to be in regard to the “supply system collapse,” and each message urges the recipient to unknowingly click on a malicious survey link.
Security researchers at Bolster, an Internet security monitoring vendor, recently unveiled their research on a 13-month long Phishing campaign that used over 6000 domains, 3000 of which are still live, to impersonate over 100 well-known clothing, footwear, and apparel brands. Brands like Nike, Puma, Adidas, Clarks, Guess, Fossil, Tommy Hilfiger, Casio, Crocs, New Balance, Skechers, Fila, Vans, and more were all companies impersonated in this massive campaign. These cybercriminals created websites that were so well disguised that users completed full shopping sessions without noticing. In this attack, the attackers predominantly utilized a pattern of combining the brand name with a country name, then ending the URL with a generic TLD. For example, “puma-shoes-singapore.com” and “pumaenmexico.com.mx” were both domains that were registered to imitate Puma. Some of these fraudulent sites have actually managed to make it near the top of the results when the brand is searched on Google.
What You Can Do
Because these spoofing attacks can be so well disguised, it is important to be aware of the different types of attacks that exist, as well as how to identify a phishing email. Cybercrime rates have been increasing drastically over the last several years, meaning that people must stay educated and take proactive measures in protecting their systems. One of the easiest ways to spot a fraudulent email or website is to check for grammar or spelling mistakes. If you are unsure of the legitimacy of an email that appears to be from a certain organization, do not interact with it. Instead, go to the organization’s official site and use the contact information listed there to ask them about the email. Also, look out for email addresses that are not associated with the organization that the sender is claiming to be a part of, or email addresses that are close to but not the same as the organization’s real email address. Additionally, be careful when clicking links sent in emails. You can usually check to make sure the URL looks trustworthy without clicking on it by hovering your mouse over the link. Never give out sensitive information or click on links without first making sure that they are trustworthy. And, of course, always check the URL of a website and make sure it is legitimate before giving away any sensitive or financial information.
The rising threat of cyber-attacks also makes it important to work with an IT company that you can rely on. At Blue Oak, we offer many services that can help you defend yourself from a potential attack. And, in the unfortunate case of a successful attack, we know what to do to help. From anti-virus protection to ransomware/malware protection, spam filtering to data backup, we know what you need in order to improve the security of your systems and sensitive data. Contact us today to learn more about what you can do to protect yourself and your employees.
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