Cybersecurity Planning and Management
Cyberattacks have been prevalent in recent times with the surge experienced in internet users. Phishing refers to a form of attack that involves deploying email using spoofing techniques with the intent of obtaining data and credentials from the target. Phishing kits are open source and provide a convenient assembly of well-written malicious code to the general public, including individuals with minimal coding skills furthering the cyberattacks era. Phishing disguises themselves as a trusted organization and often append messages relating to a service disturbance or a warning message indicating some form of penalty if the user tends to ignore (Aleroud & Zhou, 2017). A link is typically provided that directs the target to a website that resembles that of the real organization. A customer is asked for credentials when logging in before being transferred to the original webpage. The URL appears legitimate as foreign characters are used to disguise the URL’s (Hong et al., 2020).
The Netflix premium account allows streaming with four screens simultaneously, and I registered with my email address. A notification from the Netflix support team was relegated to my inbox, claiming urgency indicating that my account faced closure if I had not corresponded within 24 hours. The message was tailored and suggested that I should not delay viewing the show ‘Witcher.’ The alleged support team claimed the account was compromised and failed to conform to their standard licensing terms and agreement. A copy of license terms was attached, and I was recommended the sections that I should review. The clause at the header sections spelled the email that came from the support team. A help center number was also provided with the caption for further inquiries. With the knowledge of having registered using the right procedure, I dial-up the name, which directed me to a voicemail indicating the official working hours were over and suggesting I follow the guidelines and repeat the registration procedure.
Clicking on the link directed me to a webpage that requested the account number with a subsequent follow-up to sign-up my email account with a password. I checked the lock on the top of the browser that indicated the site is not safe, and the certificate is invalid, urging me not to enter sensitive information. I waited on the 24 hours, but there was no effect on the Netflix account and realized that was a spam message issued to many people with the hope of obtaining credentials of a handful of them.
References
Aleroud, A., & Zhou, L. (2017). Phishing environments, techniques, and countermeasures: A survey. Computers & Security, 68, 160-196.
Hong, J., Kim, T., Liu, J., Park, N., & Kim, S. W. (2020). Phishing URL detection with lexical features and blacklisted domains. In Adaptive Autonomous Secure Cyber Systems (pp. 253-267). Springer, Cham.