There are so many threats to digital systems—you might not know it, but this can include mobile devices. These threats are detrimental to data and more. They range from denial of service attacks and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to malware and others. One you’ll need to consider is smishing. It’s a stealthy and serious potential threat to those who fall victim to it.
So, knowing what smishing attacks are is crucial, ensuring you can stay safe and spot this type of attack immediately. Here we’ll explore what they are – and we’ll share how they are not the same as phishing attacks, plus what to do to avoid becoming a victim of one.
What is Smishing?
Smishing is a stealthy and deceptive form of cyberattack or cyber threat – and to execute this type of cyber threat, cybercriminals use SMS messages. They’re capable of tricking recipients into revealing personal information or sensitive information. For instance, this might include a credit card number or bank account details.
Now, smishing is not to be mistaken for phishing or vishing:
- Smishing vs phishing: Smishing involves receiving a fraudulent text message that dupes the recipient into sharing sensitive information. Phishing is a fraudulent e-mail or website designed to steal your information. Smishing can be thought of as a variant of phishing.
- Smishing vs vishing: Instead of sending a fraudulent text message to recipients in a smishing attack, cybercriminals make fraudulent phone calls in a vishing attack that convince you to reveal personal details, such as a credit card number.
If we look closely at smishing attacks, we see that they can deceive victims into downloading malicious software. But they can work in other ways. For instance, the SMS can direct you to a fake website, maliciously designed to collect your banking information.
How Smishing Works
Smishing is a sophisticated attack that works like this: A cybercriminal sends an SMS from what might appear to be your bank or a trusted organization, such as Amazon or PayPal, when in fact the cybercriminal is just purporting and pretending to be the trusted company.
Now, the SMS will ask the victim to take an action. For instance, they will either be asked to complete a form or click a link, send a return text with specific information or verify their address.
And in these circumstances, there is pressure and urgency falsely conveyed by the cybercriminal to trick recipients into acting quickly. For instance, they may state that one of their account’s security has been compromised and that taking action, such as changing their login details is required.
In the event the recipient doesn’t know the SMS is fraudulent, they might take action by either:
- Clicking the malicious link it contains: This malicious link can cause spyware or malware to download onto the device. This spyware will allow the cybercriminal to track the passwords of the victim and use them to gain access to their accounts, such as bank accounts – and this can lead to the loss of money without even knowing how the account was compromised.
- Sharing sensitive information: In other circumstances, the link may navigate to a website, posing as a legitimate organization’s site, but designed to collect sensitive information. For example, the page will contain a survey, which, once the victim completes, the cybercriminals will have collected the data needed to commit fraud.
According to the Statista source, three in four respondents worldwide, stated that individuals in their organization had experienced a smishing attack in 2023. A couple of such examples of real world smishing attacks, as stated by the CBC.ca news source, are the cases of the Manitoba Hydro power company and the Saskatoon police in Western Canada.
In the case of Manitoba Hydro, cybercriminals claimed to be Manitoba Hydro and stated that since recipients failed to pay their bill, they may be disconnected from power.
In the case of the Saskatoon Police Service, members of the public received a message from the Saskatchewan Traffic Bureau stating that they must click a link in the SMS to avoid going to court after speeding in a school zone. Both are fraudulent cases and victims have been prompted to report these to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
Recognizing Smishing Attempts
Yet, there are ways to recognize smishing attempts, such as claims the SMS comes from a legitimate source and URLs that look suspicious, unreasonable demands and messages that trigger an emotional response. Here’s more information on these red flags:
- Claims the SMS comes from a legitimate source: A cybercriminal who sends the SMS may claim to be from a trustworthy source or government agency, yet it’s crucial to remember that most well-known businesses or legitimate organizations will not send an unsolicited SMS or text message. They will never issue a threat through this means of communication.
- URLs that look suspicious: A smishing attempt may consist of an SMS that features a suspicious URL, which could be identified as fraudulent by using a link scanner. But, if you don’t have this feature, you can look closely at the link within the SMS and check for shortened URLs or links that may have obscuring graphics.
Characters that don’t belong in the SMS are also signs of fraudulent smishing, for example, a link that may read ‘Manitobahhydro-payment.com’ features an extra ‘h’, suggesting this is from an illegitimate source.
- Unreasonable demands and emotional triggers: An SMS that is a case of smishing will typically contain unreasonable demands that prompt urgent action. For example, the SMS may state ‘You must pay the balance, or we will turn off your electricity’, which elicits a fearful response from the recipient and can convince them to complete the action demanded in the message.
Risks and Consequences of Smishing
Now, as briefly mentioned, risks and consequences of smishing, such as identity theft and financial loss can occur if you fall victim to these attacks. For example, the risk of identity theft happens once the cybercriminal has stolen your personal data. Financial loss is also a very real threat to individuals due to a lack of cyber security in this case.
But in terms of businesses, even data breaches can occur. For instance, if a cyber criminal dupes an employee into retrieving login details to a company client database, they will be able to take login information. And this leads to a few issues, such as reputational damage and data leaks – which is why educating employees about smishing is crucial.
Protecting Yourself from Smishing
But plenty of methods including avoiding links in unsolicited messages and verifying the sender’s identity, using security software and reporting suspicious SMSs to authorities are available to help protect yourself from smishing.
We have mentioned the importance of studying and avoiding links in unsolicited messages – avoid tapping on them if the message is unrequested or unprompted. But to verify the sender’s identity, determine whether the phone number is known or unknown and activate spam protection features. You or your employees can do this by navigating to messages, then settings, and finally, ‘block numbers and spam.’
With security software you can further defend your device against smishing attempts. For example, an anti-malware app will put a stop to SMS phishing links by scanning messages for suspicious content and blocking them, instantly. This works with text analysis techniques and real-time scanning features. These are most effective when continuously updated, so ensure you run the updates when required, so they remain effective.
It’s also crucial to report suspicious SMSs to authorities such as the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, which can gather the most up-to-date information on fraud and identity theft. In doing so, such authorities can aid law enforcement professionals to investigate and protect you and others from such detrimental outcomes.
Educating Yourself About Smishing
It’s still essential to educate yourself, colleagues and loved ones about smishing, and this can be done through security awareness training as a business-enhancing strategy or using the right resources as an individual to discover more. Taking steps like these will ensure you’re alerted to smishing attempts the moment they happen.
So, a few tips for educating others about smishing include:
- Including modules on suspicious links in training sessions: Highlighting any red flags related to smishing in training sessions is ideal. For example, you might show an example of a smishing attempt and show the structure and form the suspicious link takes as a practical way to reveal what employees should look out for.
- Encouraging employees to install anti-malware apps: Educating employees about what anti-malware apps are and then encouraging them to install them is a two-pronged approach that directly minimizes the smishing risks employees might be exposed to. For instance, you might include modules in a training session related to the features of anti-malware apps and how they are used on a mobile device.
- Committing to continuous education: It’s not enough to have one round of training sessions – smishing attempts can change and become more sophisticated over time. For this reason, it’s important to commit to continuous education. For instance, every three or six months you might arrange training sessions to educate your employees.
What to Do if You Fall Victim to Smishing
But there’s still a chance that you or your employees might have fallen victim to smishing attacks – and in this situation, a few steps can ensure you handle and navigate this successfully:
- Start by reporting the attack: Let institutions know about the attack and let your organization’s IT department know so they can take timely defensive measures.
- Freeze access to your credit report: Minimize the chances of identity fraud or the likelihood of fraudsters opening new accounts in your name by freezing access to your credit report.
- Make changes to passwords and PINs: Change your PINs and passwords quickly to mitigate access to accounts and render the stolen credentials useless.
- Monitor financial accounts: Keep an eye out for unusual logins and logins that take place from unknown locations, and monitor the credit and finances for suspicious activity.
- Install anti-malware software: If you haven’t already done so, install anti-malware software to minimize future smishing attacks.
In changing passwords and monitoring accounts, you can prevent cybercriminals from accessing your accounts. But it’s important to change and update passwords with strong and unique options that are not minor variations of the previous password. For instance, your password should contain lower and uppercase letters, characters and numbers, and not easy-to-guess information.
Final Key Thoughts on Smishing from Tech Masters
Staying one step ahead of the curve when it comes to smishing can keep you and your company safe, financially and in terms of reputation. By staying vigilant, you can ensure you do not fall victim to cybercriminals.
Keep up-to-date on smishing with the latest from Tech Masters Inc. Ensure you educate others about smishing, as an individual or a company to stop these attacks in their tracks.
