Patent-pending social media security protects brands and customers from targeted Angler Phishing attacks that involve fake customer care accounts designed to steal customer credentials
London, UK. Proofpoint, Inc., (NASDAQ: PFPT), a leading next-generation cybersecurity company, today announced new functionality that safeguards customer service interactions on social media. Available today, Proofpoint Angler Phish protection is the first solution to help brands proactively detect and facilitate the take down of fraudulent customer service accounts and stop hackers from hijacking customer care requests on social media.
An increasing number of companies are using social media to provide customer support. Angler Phishing exploits this trend through the creation of fraudulent customer service accounts. Named for the anglerfish, which uses a glowing lure to bait and attack smaller prey, this threat is part of the 150 percent increase in social media phishing over the last year, according to Proofpoint research.
“Bad actors are relentlessly commandeering customer service requests on social and for the first time brands have a way to immediately defuse the threat,” said Devin Redmond, vice president and general manager of Digital Risk Solutions for Proofpoint. “Brands urgently need to protect customers from social media customer care attacks and proactively shut down fake pages. Our new functionality uniquely solves the Angler Phishing problem while putting power back in the hands of brands.”
Angler Phishing occurs when customers use social media to contact a brand for customer support. Hackers create fake customer support pages and watch for customer service requests. Once an Angler Phishing hacker spots a customer service request, they hijack the conversation by responding directly to the customer with a malicious link.
These links lead to sites that look official, but trick customers into entering their personal information for criminal use. Customers may unknowingly give away credentials, as well as financial and security information. The Anti-Phishing Working Group’s (APWG) Q1 2016 Phishing Activity Trends Report finds more than 75 percent of phishing attacks target financial service and ecommerce organizations to steal banking credentials and make fraudulent purchases.
According to the May 2016 Forrester Research report Four Ways Cybercriminals Exploit Social Media, “To better protect your organization from social cyberthreats today and in the future: develop a framework and assess your social risk posture. Identify your most valuable social points of presence, actors, and assets, and consider the consequences for your organization if those high-value accounts were compromised or impersonated.”
Proofpoint Social Media Protection helps brands follow Forrester Research advice and keep their social channels secure. The Angler Phish protection functionality is the only targeted, patent-pending solution for protecting social customer service accounts and requests. Top brands use Proofpoint’s patented social protection suite to map their social footprint, report fraudulent accounts, stop hackers from defacing pages, remove malicious or inappropriate content, prevent unauthorized publishing workflow, and address compliance requirements.
About Proofpoint, Inc.
Proofpoint Inc. (NASDAQ:PFPT) is a leading next-generation security and compliance company that provides cloud-based solutions to protect the way people work today. Proofpoint solutions enable organizations to protect their users from advanced attacks delivered via email, social media and mobile apps, protect the information their users create from advanced attacks and compliance risks, and respond quickly when incidents occur.
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