Dive Deep into Spear Phishing: Strategies and How to Safeguard

These attacks often use information from social media, company websites, or other sources to make the email appear more legitimate and convincing. A spear phishing attack tricks users effectively into revealing sensitive information. As a result, spear phishing emails have been responsible for numerous data breaches and financial losses.

Spear phishing attacks can cause damage to small businesses by manipulating users into downloading malware or giving away sensitive information through cloud services like Dropbox or Mailchimp. 

In these email attack types, the cybercriminal may send a fraudulent email that appears to come from a legitimate cloud service but contains a link or attachment that, when clicked, installs malware or redirects the user to a fake website designed to steal login credentials or other sensitive information.

Here's what every IT team needs to know to prevent spear phishing scams before they happen.

What Are Common Spear Phishing Attack Types and Techniques?

Let’s learn the anatomy of a phishing attack. Here is how attackers tailor their approach to slip past defenses and breach your inbox.

Social Engineering

This is where it starts for most attackers. Social engineering tactics are often used to manipulate victims into giving away sensitive information or taking specific action. Attackers lean on human instincts—trust, urgency, fear. Impersonation is another favorite cybercriminal tactic. An attacker might pose as a senior executive, a trusted vendor, or even a colleague, asking for a wire transfer or sensitive information. And because the email looks familiar, people comply.

Here’s a common scenario: You get an email that appears to come from your bank. It says there’s been suspicious activity on your account. The tone is urgent, and it pushes you to click a link and verify your details. But that link leads to a fake site designed to steal your credentials.

These messages often rely on fear. “Your account will be closed if you don’t act now.” That kind of pressure makes people click fast and think later.

A spear phishing attack may go further. Using information from social media or breached databases, they might drop in personal details—your name, job title, or even where you went on vacation. Suddenly, the message doesn’t just look real, it feels real.

Obfuscation

Obfuscation is all about camouflage, and it can be used in various ways in a spear phishing email attack. Obfuscation involves hiding the malicious code within a more extensive program that appears benign.

The cybercriminal may hide malicious code inside something that looks safe. Sometimes it’s an Excel file. Sometimes it’s a PDF. Once the file is opened, the malware launches quietly in the background, and the attacker is now able to steal information.

They might also hide the payload behind a seemingly harmless link. The URL could appear to lead to your company’s login page or a document on a trusted platform. But embedded in that link is obfuscated code that launches once clicked.

This technique works well because it helps attackers slip past antivirus filters. When the code isn’t obviously malicious, it’s harder for email security tools to catch it.

DocuSign Spear Phishing Email

Information Gathering

No attacker goes in blind. Before the email lands in your inbox, they’ve done their homework.

Information gathering is a common technique cyber thieves use to execute a spear phishing email attack in order to obtain valuable information and money. This involves gathering intel on the target. Your name, position, email address, and any other details that can be used to personalize spear phishing emails and make them appear more convincing.

Let’s say you’re out of office, and your auto-reply says, “I’m at a conference this week. Please reach out to my manager, John.” That’s gold for a cybercriminal. They can craft a spear phishing email that references that exact message, making it look like they’re in the loop.

Other information-gathering techniques used in these types of email attacks may include:

• Researching the target on social media or professional networking sites.
• Searching for information about the target's employer.
• Using phishing emails to gather additional information from the target.

And it doesn’t stop there. Cybercriminals will look anywhere to find information to personalize the email. The more specific the details, the more convincing the message.

Other information-gathering techniques used in these types of email attacks may include:

• Researching the target on social media or professional networking sites.
• Searching for information about the target's employer.
• Using phishing emails to gather additional information from the target.

URL Manipulation

Attackers may embed malicious links or URLs in an email to appear trustworthy. The attacker sends what looks like a standard email: maybe a password reset or a shared document. The URL even looks legit—until you hover over it. That’s when you’ll see it’s pointing somewhere entirely different.

Once clicked, the victim lands on a fake site designed to harvest credentials. If you’re not paying close attention, it’s easy to miss.

Minimal Text

A common technique cyber thieves use to execute spear phishing email attacks that will allow them to obtain valuable information and money is to use minimal text in the emails they send. The idea behind this technique is to make the emails appear more legitimate by being short and to the point, avoiding common spelling or grammar errors, as well as preventing raised suspicion from the target.

In a minimal text spear phishing email attack, the email may be short, typically only a sentence or two, and often includes a link or an attachment that the attacker wants the target to click on. The cybercriminal will use a tone of urgency by claiming that the link or attachment contains essential information that requires immediate action. This will convince the target to click on the link or attachment without considering the possible repercussions.

For example, this type of phishing attack often includes phrases in the emails, such as "Click here to view important information." The email may appear to come from a legitimate source, such as a bank or other financial institution, and the link may lead to a webpage that resembles the legitimate site but is actually a fake page designed to steal the target's login credentials or other sensitive information.

To protect against minimal-text spear phishing email attacks, it is essential to exercise caution when clicking links or downloading attachments from emails, especially if the email appears suspicious or originates from an unknown source. It can also be helpful to hover the mouse over links before clicking on them to verify that the URL matches the expected destination and the legitimacy of the email and its contents before taking any action.

Spear Phishing Email Targeting BCMC GlobalCompromising API Tokens or Session Tokens

A common technique cyber thieves use to execute spear phishing email attacks that will allow them to obtain valuable information and money is to use minimal text in the emails they send. The idea behind this technique is to make the emails appear more legitimate by being short and to the point, avoiding common spelling or grammar errors, as well as preventing raised suspicion from the target.

In a minimal text spear phishing email attack, the email may be short, typically only a sentence or two, and often includes a link or an attachment that the attacker wants the target to click on. The cybercriminal will use a tone of urgency by claiming that the link or attachment contains essential information that requires immediate action. This will convince the target to click on the link or attachment without considering the possible repercussions.

For example, this type of phishing attack often includes phrases in the emails, such as "Click here to view important information." The email may appear to come from a legitimate source, such as a bank or other financial institution, and the link may lead to a webpage that resembles the legitimate site but is actually a fake page designed to steal the target's login credentials or other sensitive information.

To protect against minimal-text spear phishing email attacks, it is essential to exercise caution when clicking links or downloading attachments from emails, especially if the email appears suspicious or originates from an unknown source. It can also be helpful to hover the mouse over links before clicking on them to verify that the URL matches the expected destination and the legitimacy of the email and its contents before taking any action.

Cloud Service Manipulation

Cloud platforms make life easier. Unfortunately, they also make attacks more convincing.

A phishing email might include a link to a Dropbox file or a Google Doc. The services themselves are real, but the file? It’s malicious.

Attackers may use cloud services, such as Dropbox, to host malicious files or to make the email appear more legitimate. Attackers use these platforms to bypass traditional email filters. If the domain is trusted, the email is more likely to reach your inbox.

To protect yourself from all of these spear phishing attack types, it is essential to be vigilant and cautious when opening emails or clicking on links, especially if they are unsolicited or appear suspicious. Always verify the authenticity of the sender and email address before responding or taking any action.

Why Is Microsoft's Built-In Protection Not Enough?

Microsoft 365 built-in protection is limited and full of gaps. Many people assume that Microsoft 365 has them covered when it comes to email security. But here’s the reality: that built-in protection? It’s not bulletproof.

The protection is static and single-layered. Here’s one big issue: Microsoft 365 isn’t built to recognize the nuance of your business. Its security settings are mostly one-size-fits-all. That means it struggles to detect abnormal patterns or subtle signs of a social engineering attack. And when those go unnoticed, you’re looking at a real risk of credential theft, account takeovers, or worse.

That’s where layered defenses come in—like Guardian Digital EnGarde Cloud Email Security. This isn’t static security. EnGarde adapts. This security closes these critical loopholes in Microsoft 365 protection that are the source of many of the most severe attacks today. It learns from the threats it sees and updates in real-time to stay a step ahead of attackers. It’s designed to close the gaps that Microsoft 365 leaves open.

Keep Learning About Advanced Spear Phishing Techniques

Spear phishing scams aren’t just a fancier version of phishing—they’re precision-engineered manipulation. This is why it’s essential to understand the spear phishing definition.

These aren’t mass emails. Spear phishing emails are a highly targeted version of phishing involving sending fraudulent emails that appear to be from a known or trusted sender to obtain sensitive information. This type of phishing attack is becoming increasingly common as it’s more successful than conventional phishing in deceiving recipients. 

Instead of sending hundreds of thousands of generic emails at a time, spear phishing campaigns involve researching victims and using advanced intelligence strategies to compose just a thousand convincing messages.

Here’s where it gets worse: once they compromise one account, they often use that identity to access others. One breach becomes two, then three, then ten. This is spear phishing in action. The real focus now is on how you can prevent spear phishing before it spreads throughout your organization.

To prevent spear phishing attacks, it is essential to be vigilant of the many ways attackers use tactics to get you to click a link. Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown or suspicious sources. It is also important to use strong, unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication wherever possible, as this can help prevent attackers from accessing accounts even if they have stolen tokens.

To help prevent API and session token compromises, organizations should take key security steps: regularly scan for vulnerabilities and apply patches, limit user access to sensitive systems and data, and use monitoring tools to catch and respond to suspicious activity in real time. These proactive measures reduce the risk of token theft and make it harder for attackers to succeed with spear phishing attempts that aim to steal valuable data or money.

• Discover how an effective email security software solution can analyze your communication patterns to better detect threats.
• Prepare your business for cyberattacks to make sure employees stay safe online.
• Improve your company’s posture to protect against attacks and breaches by following best practices for email security.
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