How a Real Phishing Attack Can Happen
October 9th, 2019 by admin
We recently dealt with a very sneaky phishing attack and wanted to share it so you don’t fall victim to this too! A client looked up what they thought was the customer service team for the software they were having issues with. However, what they found online was a fake customer service number that claimed to be that company instead. The client spoke to the fake ‘support’ line and troubleshooted the problem by letting them remote into the computer under the false pretense that they were trying to help. The client then received an email billing for services performed from a generic sender unrelated to the software company. It was then that our technician remotely accessed the PC and checked some logs on her device. Our Webroot tool had detected and quarantined 12 infections on the device. The technician promptly set up a spare device for the client to use instead and had them send the compromised machine into ICX for further troubleshooting and recovery.
There are some important lessons to be learned here! First, this could happen to anyone. When you Google a support telephone number, you assume you have found the right one! Do not take any support number you find online as the real one, first go to that company’s real URL www.thatcompany.com and search through their site for a support number or other contact channel. Second, never let someone you don’t know remotely access your computer. If our Webroot tool had not been running and caught the intrusion viruses this technician was installing, a lot more damage could have been done, including a lot of business and client data being compromised.
This is what we do best! Our tools allow us to quickly assess and quarantine malware, spyware and viruses to prevent damage and data loss from occurring. If you’re unsure about how secure your computer systems are, give us a call for a free cybersecurity analysis! We are here to help.