Small – Medium Enterprises often think they are too small to be of interest to cyber attackers. But this is far from the case. They have long been targets and interest in them is growing. This Insight looks at why and what to do to be safer.
SMEs are big targets for cybercriminals
Cyber attackers have found they can send phishing emails from real Google sites. The fact that the emails do originate from a Google site makes people trust them and more apt to click that link or follow the instructions.
ClickFix is a hacking technique that displays a message saying a download or other install didn’t work. It requests that you run a script fix the problem. But all that does is install malware. It is an effective technique that is being used by state sponsored North Korean cyber groups.
Fraud is more pervasive and widespread than many like to admit. New research shows that 40% of Americans have suffered financial losses due to fraud. The number may be higher as many people hesitate to report it for fear of being embarrassed.
Darcula is a phishing-as-a-service provider. This means they provide all the materials and technology needed to go into the phishing business. Now they have enhanced their toolkit with AI to make the phishing emails even more believable and harder to identify.
Slopsquatting is another form of AI hallucinations. This time tied to code development that can infect the output of the AI system. The AI systems hallucinated over 20% of the repository dependencies. Very dangerous.
Another attack on software developers uses job ads. When someone replies, they are sent an infected assignment. Opening it compromises and infects their systems!
A new RAT, Remote Access Trojan, has been found allowing attackers to penetrate and take control of systems. Phishing emails are how it arrives. Healthcare and pharmaceuticals are current targets.
The same technique that was used to compromise MITRE has been found to have been used against Windows systems for a few years. It is a complex sophisticated attack.
Much was written about North Koreans being unknowingly hired by many US companies. Now Chinese nationals are getting into US companies through someone who lied and scammed the companies. Vetting new hires is getting more difficult but is more important than ever.
Insiders are always under attack through phishing, smishing, vishing and more. Why? Because attackers know insiders are users that already have access to the desired data. Learn more about this in this Insight.
Spam after spam after spam after spam after spam after spam, etc. That is a new technique attackers are using as a lead in to social engineering attacks.
Another big month for Microsoft patches. Be sure to determine which of your systems and applications are affected, the risk for each, then begin installing. Do not delay.
Actively exploited vulnerabilities are those that cyberattackers are using now to get into systems. Be sure to install the update sooner rather than later.
AI Chatbots come with many vulnerabilities and issues. Now the Android AI Perplexity chatbot was found to have 10 bugs. This makes it less secure than chatbots from ChatGPT and DeepSeek.