DICT warns public vs phishing attacks.

MANILA -- The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) yesterday warned the public about popular phishing techniques used by hackers worldwide as the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)'s attached agency also called on those subject to phishing attempts or victimized by such hacks to report incidents to its hotline.

DICT Undersecretary Alexander Ramos, the CICC's executive director, said that US security and intelligence agencies have released a 14-page phishing guide that they are also using in a bid to educate the public on the common phishing attacks employed by hackers worldwide so that Filipino netizens and data subjects could better protect themselves from such nefarious online activities.

Ramos added that the US agencies, composed of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, National Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, released the 'Phishing Guidance: Stopping the Attack Cycle at Phase One' with a simplified version of the guide in the article titled 'US Government Releases Popular Phishing Technique Used by Hackers' that was published by cybersecuritynews.com last Friday.

The guide defines phishing as an attack that uses deception to trick people into giving away sensitive information or taking actions that compromise security.

'Phishing is often the first stage of a larger attack that can lead to data breaches, ransomware infections, identity theft and other serious consequences,' the guide said.

It added that there are two main types of phishing: phishing for credentials and phishing for malware.

Phishing for credentials is a phishing attack where hackers pretend to be someone a user trusts and asks the user to provide his log-in credentials, which hackers can then use to access the user's systems or resources.

The attack is done by sending emails that look like they come from one's boss, co-worker or IT staff; using text messages or chat platforms to trick one into giving his log-in credentials; or using internet phone services to fake caller IDs to make one think that the call is from a legitimate number.

To stop the phishing attack, one should train oneself and others to spot and report suspicious email messages.

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