Future Hosting has advised business owners to invest in employee training to raise awareness of the dangers of phishing as a result of the recently released WebRoot Quarterly Threat Update
Online, September 27, 2016 (Newswire.com) - Future Hosting, a VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting provider, has advised business owners to invest in employee training to raise awareness of the dangers of phishing.
Phishing attacks are a major cause of network infiltration and data theft. According to the WebRoot Quarterly Threat Update, phishing attacks have increased in intensity and sophistication throughout 2016.
Phishing attacks use email to distribute malware or to influence employees to visit malware distributing websites. Many successful ransomware incidents begin with a phishing attack.
"As a web hosting provider, we're concerned that many of our clients and their employees simply aren't aware of the risks that phishing poses," said Maulesh Patel, VP of Operations of Future Hosting, "By mounting a successful phishing attack against non-critical systems operated by office staff or executives, online criminals can establish a beachhead that can be used to gather information for an attack against critical systems, including those hosted in external data centers."
Online criminals often send emails that appear to originate from banks and other trusted institutions. With this type of attack, businesses are targets of opportunity. The attacker hopes that by sending many thousands of emails, a proportion of recipients will fall for the deception.
So-called spear phishing attacks are even even more dangerous. Criminals thoroughly research their intended victim to discover information that will increase the chances of success.
In both cases, employees without training may click on links in a phishing email, and thereby expose their employer to serious risk.
Future Hosting has urged businesses to train employees to exercise caution with regard to all email, and to recognize potential phishing attacks when they occur. Because phishing is now a regular part of the online criminal's repertoire, small business can expect to receive an ever increasing number of phishing emails.
If staff don't have the knowledge and the experience to properly identify suspect emails, there's a strong chance that a business will be victimized.
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About Future Hosting, LLC
Founded in 2001, Future Hosting is a privately held leading Internet solutions provider specializing in managed hosting, including Dedicated Servers, Virtual Private Servers, and Hybrid Virtual Private Servers. The company has built a strong reputation for its high-quality service, innovative pricing models, and 3-hour Service Level Agreement. Future Hosting is based in Southfield, Michigan. For more information, visit www.futurehosting.com
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