Phishers Target the Midmarket

Looks like enterprises aren?t the only ones that have to worry about phishing attacks.According to MarkMonitor, which publishes a quarterly Brandjacking Index that measures the effect of online threats to brands, one-third of all phishing attacks reported last July to September were targeted at credit unions, not giant financial institutions.

?Smaller brands are being phished," Frederick Felman, chief marketing officer at MarkMonitor, told SearchCIO-Midmarket.com. "Over the last two or three years we've seen pockets of attacks on smaller players, attacks on credit unions and small online retailers.?

These attacks are especially costly to these businesses in terms of lost sales and customer confidence, he added.

Preparation is key, said an analyst from Gartner, who suggested smaller businesses work out a standby plan with a service provider that can be called on should an attack occur.

?It's easier to attack smaller banks that haven't geared up to protect themselves,? said Avivah Litan, a vice president and research director. ?They can go undetected. And as soon as they are detected, these smaller banks are caught off-guard."SearchCIO-Midmarket.com