How to Prevent Phishing Attacks

Published on: January 3, 2025

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3 min read

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For German Version

Phishing attacks are among the most straightforward and efficient strategies used by hackers to accomplish their objectives. Deceiving an individual into clicking a link in an email or opening a harmful file is often simpler than breaching an organization's firewall and other security measures.

According to a Proofpoint poll, just 58% of users are aware of phishing, highlighting an enormous gap given the prevalence and increasing sophistication of phishing attacks. The poll revealed that 84% of firms encountered at least one successful phishing attempt in 2022, while 54% had three or more successful incidents.

Phishing attacks may be catastrophic for both people and organizations. Phishing attacks may pursue several objectives, including virus dissemination, financial theft, and credential acquisition. Nonetheless, the majority of phishing scams aimed at acquiring your personal information may be identified with sufficient vigilance.

Comprehending the dangers of phishing attacks is a crucial initial step in safeguarding against them. Nonetheless, contemporary phishing efforts are intricate, and it is likely that, ultimately, an individual may succumb to one.

The use of network security solutions, such as next-generation firewalls, secure web gateways, or email filters, may distinguish between a significant security issue and an inconsequential one.

In this tutorial, we will explain the self-protection methods against phishing for users and how you can prevent them from accessing phishing sites using Zenarmor.

Methods for Self-Protection Against Phishing

Users may follow the next ways to protect themselves against phishing attacks.

• Recognize the characteristics of a phishing scam. New phishing attack techniques are always evolving; nonetheless, they exhibit similar characteristics that may be recognized if one is aware of what to observe.

• Safeguard your computer by using security software. Configure the program for automatic updates to address emerging security concerns.

• Safeguard your accounts by using multi-factor authentication. Certain accounts provide enhanced protection by requiring two or more credentials for account access. This is referred to as multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication complicates unauthorized access to your accounts, even if fraudsters have your login and password.

• Obtain free anti-phishing extensions. Contemporary browsers often allow users to download extensions that detect indicators of dangerous websites or notify them of recognized phishing sites. They are often entirely free, hence there is no justification for not installing this on every device inside your firm.

• Avoid disclosing your personal information to a susceptible website. Should the website's URL not begin with "https" or if a closed padlock icon is not visible next to the URL, refrain from submitting sensitive information or downloading files from the site. Sites that lack security certificates may not be designed to facilitate phishing schemes; however, it is preferable to be cautious than regretful.

• Safeguard your mobile device by configuring the program for automatic updates. These upgrades may provide essential protection against security risks.

• When opening emails or acting on links, exercise caution, particularly if they are from unknown senders. Refrain from accessing attachments unless they are anticipated and originate from reliable sources. It is generally not advisable to click on a link in an email or instant message, even if you are familiar with the sender. The most basic action you should take is to hover over the link to verify that the destination is accurate. The destination URL of certain phishing attacks can be a carbon copy of the genuine site, which is designed to capture inputs or pilfer login/credit card information. These attacks can be quite sophisticated. If it is feasible for you to access the website directly through your search engine, rather than clicking on the link, you should do so.

• Safeguard your data by creating backups. Securely save the data from your computer on an external hard drive or in cloud storage. Additionally, ensure that the data on your phone is backed up.

• Notify your IT department in the event that you receive a fraudulent email. Disconnect from the internet and inform your IT team promptly if you suspect you have been the victim of a phishing attempt or observe suspicious activity on your device. Avoid from restarting or shutting down your device.

Blocking Phishing Sites with Zenarmor

Zenarmor is a next-generation firewall with a rich and up-to-date cyber threat intelligence database protecting your network against cyberattacks. It provides proactive, comprehensive, and enterprise-level security for all networks, including homes, schools, and big companies. You may use Zenarmor to prevent malicious or inappropriate website traffic at no cost forever. Zenarmor has Essential Security Controls and Advanced Security Controls options. While Essential Security Controls which are effective solutions to prevent malware, phishing, hacking, spam, and dangerous sites, are available free forever, Advanced Security Controls powerful against recent cyber attacks, like zero-day threats, are available only to paid subscribers.

Zenarmor Security Controls enable your network to combat phishing attempts effectively. The Block Phishing Server feature acts as a tactical safeguard against falling victim to fraudulent schemes. By activating the Phishing and Recent Malware/Phishing/Virus Outbreaks options, you can restrict access to websites known for hosting harmful software associated with phishing campaigns. This feature prevents users from accessing phishing sites that could compromise sensitive information or passwords.

After installing Zenarmor on your BSD-based or Linux-based gateway and completing the initial configuration, you may easily block phishing sites and protect your users against phishing campaigns by following the next steps.

1. Navigate to the Policies page on your Zenarmor node.

2. Click on the policy name, such as Default, that you want to configure. This will open the policy configuration window at the right side of the page.

3. Navigate to the Security tab on the policy configuration page.

4. Click 3-dot menu with ... icon at the top right corner of the Essential Security pane. This will open a drop-down menu displaying the available profiles.

5. You may select Moderate Control or High Control profile depending on your need.

   Figure 1. Essential Security Options

   tip

   Instead of choosing a predefined Essential Security profile, you may block individual Security categories, like *Phishing, by turning on the corresponding toggle bar. For paid Zenarmor users, we recommend enabling Advanced Security options, like Recent Malware/Phishing/Virus Outbreaks, as well.

   Figure 2. Blocking Phishing Sites

6. Click Apply Changes to activate the settings.

Testing and Viewing Blocked Phishing Sites Traffic

Advanced reporting capabilities of Zenarmor allow you to view detected and blocked cyber-threat traffic in real time. You may follow the next steps to view threat traffic.

1. Access the phishtank.org with your browser. PhishTank serves as a collaborative repository for data and information on phishing on the Internet. PhishTank is a free community platform that allows anyone to post, verify, monitor, and disseminate phishing information.

2. Click on the Phish Search menu on the navigation bar. This will open the Phish Archive page.

3. Select Valid phishes from the Valid? drop-down menu.

4. Select Online from the Online? drop-down menu.

5. Click Search button to view the active validated phishing sites.

   Figure 3. Searching Phishing Sites

6. You may click Older link at the right bottom of the page to view more phishing sites.

7. Try to access some of the phishing sites. You should see a block notification page similar to the one below.

   Figure 4. Block Notification Page for Phishing

   tip

   Beware that blocking recent phishing sites may require you to have Zenarmor Paid Editions.

8. Navigate to the Dashboard on your Zenarmor node. You will see Threat Summary pane at the top of the page.

   Figure 5. Zenarmor Dashboard

9. Check the total number of detected and blocked network security threats on the Threat Summary pane. Clicking on the numerical values in this pane will open the Threats lives session explorer, which exhibits all identified and blocked threats.

10. Navigate to the Reports > Threats.

    Figure 6. Zenarmor Threats Reports

11. You may examine charts, like Top Detected Threats, Top Blocked Threats, and Top Threat Destinations, which are very useful for threat hunting.

12. Hover your mouse over the Phishing on the Top Detected Threats chart.

13. Click Filter button. This will automatically apply the filter to the charts.

    Figure 7. Applying Filter on Top Detected Threats Chart

14. You may view the reports for the blocked phishing site traffic. Checking Top Blocked/Detected Users and Top Blocked/Detected Hosts charts may be beneficial to find the users who need security awareness training.

15. Navigate to the Live Sessions > Threats to view the traffic details.

    Figure 8. Phishing Traffic on Live Sessions

16. Click on the magnifying glass icon to view the session details.

    Figure 9. Viewing Live Sessions Details