IDX President and CEO Tom Kelly Addresses Whaling, Spears, Phishing and Other Cyber Threats

As featured on Price of Business Radio

While cyber industries continue to grow, so do the risks of becoming the victim of phishing and cybercriminals.

Tom Kelly, president and CEO of IDX, sat down with Kevin Price of Price of Business Radio to discuss Phishing, the different forms it can take, and the ways in which it can put you and your company's information at risk.

Phishing, a common tactic used by cybercriminals to gain access to personal information, typically takes place in the form of emails, texts, or direct messages that are meant to impersonates authentic people or companies in order get recipients to engage with the messages.

Tom explained that phishing has become very sophisticated and continues to take on new forms, such as spear phishing, which are phishing attempts targeted at specific people, as well as whaling, a tactic meant to make messages seem like they are coming from a person of authority within one's business. This included a personal story of someone impersonating him in a failed whaling attempt that "Looked as real as you can get".

Although emails are still frequently used to carry out phishing attacks, such attempts are becoming more frequent in social media, texts, and calls, with cybercriminals going so far as to create fake accounts to impersonate people you may know.

Tom mentioned a great way to mitigate the risk of falling victim to a phishing attempt is to verify whether or not the message was sent from an authentic sender by asking that person or organization through a different medium or in person when possible. However, he also explained that the people who often fall victim are employees who are busy and drop their guard while in a rush.

This is why it is important now more than ever for companies to insure that their employees are protected from phishing attempts by providing them with proper software and training aimed at preventing outside access to personal information.

Even if one is well practiced in detecting phishing attempts, Tom emphasized that everyone should have some level of preparedness in case their information is hacked. Backing up your files to a local drive and practicing good password hygiene are two easy ways he discussed to help mitigate vulnerability to cyberattacks.

Furthermore, as the conflict in Ukraine continues to deteriorate, the threat of a major cyberattack out of Russia has never been higher, Tom pointed out. And that means Americans need to be prepared for a rise in phishing scams and similar attacks. “Our preparedness is reasonable, but the fact is that this is a real risk,” Tom said.

Cyber threats have widespread consequences for the U.S. economy, companies and individuals. But the tools you need to protect your business or personal information are available to you. Visit www.idx.us to see how IDX privacy protection software can help you.