Cyber criminals are constantly trying to breach personal data, financial information, and sensitive documents. One of the most common methods for doing so is phishing. Studies show that more than 15 billion spam emails are sent every single day, many of them malicious in their intentions. Meanwhile, about four out of five businesses say they have been subject to some type of phishing attack.

Crucially, phishing isn’t just a matter of volume or frequency. Phishing scams are becoming more numerous, yet they are also becoming more varied. In fact, the phishing scam has produced two variants that every business owner should know about, vishing and smishing.

While these three types of attack are similar in many ways, they also have some important distinctions. To ensure vigilance and adequate cybersecurity protections, it’s helpful to know a bit more about the taxonomy of online scams.

Phishing vs. Vishing vs. Smishing

Here’s a quick rundown of these three important terms.

  • The classic phishing scam involves a fraudulent email, sent with the purpose of soliciting a click on a malicious link. Ultimately, the goal is for the hacker to access confidential information. Phishing scams can vary in their level of sophistication, and can involve spoofed email addresses, fake websites, and more.
  • Meanwhile, vishing scams work very similarly to phishing scams. The big difference is that they operate via voice calls rather than emails. The basic agenda is the same, with hackers using voice calls to try to entice their victims into clicking links or providing sensitive information over the phone.
  • Finally, smishing attacks function much like classic phishing scams do. The distinction here is that, instead of email, the hacker uses SMS (text messaging). Again, the trick here is that the hacker tries to solicit their victim to click a bad link, surrender a password, or give up some other type of personally identifiable data.

Protecting Yourself Against Phishing, Vishing, and Smishing

It’s critical to exercise vigilance against all three types of attack. Luckily, the same basic principles that can minimize your phishing vulnerability can also protect you against vishing and smishing.

  • Avoid clicking on any links from sources you cannot verify. If you’re at work, it’s wisest to not open links from anyone outside your organization.
  • Don’t ever provide personal or financial information to someone who is contacting you unsolicited, even if that person claims to be representing your bank or credit card company.
  • Don’t answer calls or texts from numbers you don’t recognize.

It’s crucial to enact these basic precautions in your own life, but if you’re a business owner or IT leader, it’s equally important to provide consistent training to your employees.

Be Vigilant About Common Online Attacks

Phishing, vishing, smishing… all pose real risks to your business organization. To create effective safeguards, enlist the expertise of a cybersecurity company. BlueArmor can provide full consultation services, and even help ensure optimal training for your team members. Contact us whenever you’re ready to take preventive steps against malicious online scams.