Spear phishing is a phishing attack that is personalized and targeted. It usually focuses on a specific person or group of people.

What is a Spear Phishing Attack?

Spear phishing is a phishing attack that is personalized and targeted. It usually focuses on a specific person or group of people. A spear-phishing attack lacks the typical ‘spam’ characteristics found in large-scale, blasted phishing attacks. Spear phishing typically involves some reconnaissance and research on the target individuals in order for threat actors to execute a targeted phishing attack that seems believable and more legitimate.

The Purposes Behind a Spear Phishing Attack

The purpose of spear-phishing attacks can vary. Criminals may be trying to steal money from the organization or information such as business credentials, trade secrets, or corporate research. Threat actors also use spear-phishing emails to distribute malware for future use in ransomware attacks or infiltration into business systems and networks.

Spear Phishing Attack Delivery Methods

Cybercriminals most often use email or text messages in a spear-phishing attack. 

• Email—By far, the most common method used in a spear-phishing attack is an email. The email may include personal information on the recipient (gleaned from research or public information published to a social media site to make the email seem legitimate. 
• Text Messaging—The victim may receive a malicious link via a fake text message.
• Social Media—Cybercriminals sometimes use social media to distribute malicious links. Social media can also be used in spear phishing to impersonate an executive or authority figure or for reconnaissance on a target.

Spear Phishing Attack Types

• Credential Harvesting—Credential harvesting efforts often involve emails designed to steal sensitive credentials, such as usernames and passwords or financial account information. Typically, emails like this pretend to be from a legitimate system such as Exchange, an HR system, or even an Active Directory core credential authenticator. When the malicious link is clicked, the user is often taken to a website that resembles the real one. Once there, the victim is encouraged to enter their credentials into the fake webpage.
• Malicious Link Compromise—The victim may receive a malicious link via email or a fake text message. Once malicious links in emails are clicked, users may be redirected to another suspicious website or result in malicious content being downloaded.
• Malicious Attachment Compromise—This technique involves sending the intended victim an email containing an attachment with malicious code embedded in it. When the victim opens the attachment, the code executes and delivers the dangerous payload. 
• Business Email Compromise (BEC)—Business email compromise involves spoofing the email address of a high-profile person (usually an executive) and then using the spoofed email address to send a fake email to someone else in the company in an attempt to obtain money (often in the form of a wire transfer) or information such as sensitive employee PII.

Spear Phishing Attack Phases

Cybercriminals often follow a process when engaging in a spear-phishing attack:

Step 1: Pre-attack Phase: Identify the Victim

• Identify one or more individuals at a specific organization.
• Engage in information-gathering.
  

Step 2: Initial Attack Phase: Create & Distribute the Attack

• Develop realistic content intended to fool the victim into believing the communication is real. Content may contain personal information on the victim obtained from research or public social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. 
• Socially engineer the content to create a sense of curiosity, urgency, or fear.
• Spoof sender email addresses to make them seem real.
• Send emails or messages with fake content and malicious links/attachments.
  

Step 3: User Action Phase: Hook the Victim

• Victim responds to the attack and provides the information or money requested by the attacker.

Step 4: Post-attack Phase: Expand or Monetize the Attack

• Use stolen credentials for additional future attacks.
• Infiltrate corporate systems.
• Sell stolen credentials to other cybercriminals.
• Steal money through wire fraud or stolen financial credentials.

Spear Phishing Telltale Signs

There are many common traits in spear phishing. If any of these characteristics appear in an email, text message, or website, chances are good that it’s spear phishing.

• Spoofed email ‘display’ name—The display name doesn’t match the actual email address.
• Spoofed links—When hovering over the link, the URL redirects to a site that is different from the claimed business.
• Shortened URLs—Shortened URLs are often used to hide a malicious URL. 
• Typos and poor grammar—Poorly written content containing punctuation and grammar errors, as well as typos are common in phishing communications.
• Urgent, unusual, or alarming content—Content that contains subject lines and content that is unusual, urgent, or alarmist are red flags.
• Attachments and links—As a rule you should never open attachments or click links from suspicious sources. 
• Login/Credentials Request—Any emails or text messages asking for login credentials, password resets, financial account information, credit card information, or any other type of sensitive data should immediately be suspect.

Spear Phishing Prevention Best Practices

There are several preventative measures that can help protect an organization from spear-phishing attacks:

• Phishing awareness training—Train staff to watch out for common phishing techniques and threats. 
• Hover over links—By hovering over a link, you can view the source and determine if the ‘display’ name matches the link.
• Avoid sharing personal information on social media—Cybercriminals often scour social media for personal information on a potential target to help ‘legitimize’ the attack by pretending to have knowledge about the target.
• Don’t hit reply—If you notice a suspicious email in your inbox and wish to verify its authenticity, respond to the sender by creating a new email and typing their email address. Alternatively, contact the person using the phone number you have on file for them. Don’t hit reply in case the email has been spoofed.

Spear Phishing Protection

• Phishing Awareness Training—By providing employees with awareness education, organizations can train staff to be suspicious of any email that asks them to provide login credentials or financial information. 
• Email Security—Since the majority of phishing attacks begin with an email, security solutions can help stop malicious emails before they reach an intended target.
• Anti-phishing Solutions—Anti-phishing solutions can include website and browser protection, anti-phishing toolbars, antispam, antimalware, mobile app security, and social media protection. 
• Firewalls—On-premise and cloud-based firewalls can help prevent phishing threats from reaching staff.
• Multi-factor Authentication (MFA)—MFA offers protection from phishing attacks by helping to prevent a breach if a threat actor has gained access to someone’s credentials.
• Principle of least privilege—If a cybercriminal gains access to a user’s credentials, the principle of least privilege can help prevent threat actors from gaining access to sensitive systems and data.

Spear Phishing vs. Whaling vs. Phishing 

Now that you're familiar with the basics behind spear phishing attacks and the motives behind them, let's talk in more detail about the similarities and differences between whaling and phishing. 

Whaling

Whaling and phishing are two types of social engineering attacks that focus on deceiving targeted individuals and convincing them to divulge personal and/or confidential information. Although both types of attacks aim to successfully masquerade as an authoritative or trustworthy entity to whom a victim can entrust information, whaling attacks exclusively target senior and high-profile executives.

Whaling attacks also stand out from more typical phishing attacks in that they assume a highly personalized nature; threat actors employ common social engineering techniques such as information-gathering through open source intelligence, searching through public records, performing physical surveillance, soliciting domain information, etc. to execute a final attack such as sending a spear phishing email that sounds believable thanks to the extensive level of information-gathering undertaken. 

Phishing

Phishing is a deceptive practice where cybercriminals attempt to acquire sensitive information by posing as trustworthy entities. Through emails, messages, or malicious websites, attackers trick individuals into revealing data like passwords, credit card numbers, or social security details. Phishing attacks are generally broad and indiscriminate, casting a wide net to ensnare as many victims as possible. They often feature urgent language, generic greetings, and requests for sensitive information, exploiting human psychology to instigate a hasty response.

In contrast, whaling and spear phishing are refined, targeting specific individuals or groups. Whaling focuses on high-profile targets like executives, while spear phishing zeroes in on a narrower audience. These attacks are tailored, leveraging personal information to make the deceit more convincing. Thus, while all three exploit human vulnerability, phishing is a more generic form, while whaling and spear phishing are specialized, targeted, and personalized to enhance their effectiveness.

Next Steps

Spear phishing is a common and dangerous threat to businesses. But some basic steps—such as employee security awareness education combined with anti-phishing solutions can help alleviate many of the risks associated with a phishing attack. Schedule a security consultation with one of the GuidePoint Security experts to help you evaluate your current solutions. Discover how our anti-phishing services can build security to protect against this threat.