Longline Phishing: A New Class of Advanced Phishing Attacks

Email-borne Threats, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and the Rise of Industrial Phishing Attacks

The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in the use of email as a vehicle for cyberattacks on organizations and large corporations. Recently, Proofpoint researchers identified a new class of sophisticated and effective, large-scale phishing attack dubbed “longline” phishing attacks.

Longlining, named after the industrial fishing practice of deploying miles-long fishing lines with thousands of individual hooks, combines successful spear-phishing tactics with mass customization. Using these techniques, attackers are now able to rapidly deploy thousands of unique, malware laden messages that are largely undetectable to traditional signature and reputation-based security systems.

Read this whitepaper, Longline Phishing: Email-borne Threats, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and the Rise of Industrial Phishing Attacks to learn:

• The unique characteristics of longline phishing attacks

• How those characteristics make longlining attacks extremely difficult for traditional email and perimeter security systems to detect and block

• Details about how these attacks are carried out

• Data about the alarming effectiveness of longline phishing attacks