What is Whaling?

A whaling attack is a malicious technique used by hackers to impersonate a high-ranking member of an organisation and directly target senior or other key individuals intending to steal money or sensitive information or gain access to their computer systems for malicious purposes.

Whaling is similar to phishing, but it involves email and website spoofing to fool a victim into doing specified activities, such as disclosing sensitive information or sending money. Whaling also focuses on the targeted individuals, unlike phishing, where it is at random.

It could also create fraudulent communications that the target receives, which appear to have come from someone, specifically a senior or influential member of an organisation. This tactic adds a layer of social engineering, with employees hesitant to refuse or ignore a request from someone they consider crucial.

Whaling Operation

Whaling differs from spear-phishing in that the false messages look to emanate from a senior figure. These campaigns can be made even more credible when fraudsters conduct extensive research and use publicly available tools such as social media to develop a customised approach that complements the targeted persons.

This strategy could include an email that appears to be from a senior manager and contains a reference to something that an attacker may have discovered online.

Furthermore, the operators use the sender’s email address to appear to be from a credible source, and it may even include business logos or connections to a fake website that has been intended to appear legitimate.

Since a whale’s degree of trust and access within their organisation is more important, the threat actors must spend time and effort making the project appear credible.

Whaling Prevention

On the other hand, defending against whaling attacks begins with educating the organisation’s workforce to ensure they are constantly wary of the possibility of being targeted. Firms should encourage key staff members to maintain a healthy level of mistrust when it comes to unsolicited communication, mainly when it involves sensitive information or financial transactions.

Employees should also be trained to recognise signs of an attack, such as spoofed email addresses and names. The IT organisations should also conduct mock whaling exercises to see how their key employees respond.

Executives should also learn to be cautious when posting and sharing information online, such as on social networking platforms like Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. Cybercriminals can use publicly available personal information such as birthdays, holidays, work titles, promotions, and relationships to create more sophisticated assaults.

One effective way to reduce the danger posed by spoofed emails is to have the IT staff automatically flag emails from outside the network for analysis. Whaling frequently relies on cybercriminals tricking key workers into believing messages are from within a firm. Hence, flagging outside emails makes it easier to identify bogus emails that appear real.

It is also recommended that specialised anti-phishing software be used that includes features like URL screening and link validation. Organisations should also consider adding an additional degree of validation when releasing sensitive information or a substantial sum of money.

Lastly, firms should consider modifying their procedures so that payments require two signatures rather than one. This tactic can allow staff to acquire a second opinion to double-check a transaction’s legitimacy.

How can iZOOlogic help my Company or Organisation?

Find out how iZOOlogic can protect against Whaling attacks through our Incident Response services.

To find out more about how iZOOlogic can help protect your company’s cyber security, schedule a demo.