Pharming is a kind of phishing attack – advanced technique to trick users into clicking on a malicious website – that has become a nuisance for many businesses. Whilst there are old traditional kinds of malware attacks that still exist and are widely misused to hack into a system, the newer versions of phishing like Pharming are more risky since it’s harder to detect and identify them.
So, how does Pharming Operate?
Like mentioned, Pharming is advanced phishing. It is carried out in a more advanced way in which the hacker somehow fools the DNS of a computer to redirect the user towards a malware infected website.
Here’s how this occurs.
- A hacker buys an authentic domain name to create a fake website.
- The fake website looks very legitimate – so legitimate that even the DNS can be tricked into marking it as safe.
- For the user’s system to get hacked, the user has to click on the malicious website. Since it’s the computer’s DNS that takes the user to the fake website, it’s hard to realize that the website is fake.
- If the users enter their login credentials or their bank details or any other sensitive information on the website, all of it is not just stolen, but the entire system is hijacked.
However, this isn’t the end of hope and security. Hackers are advanced but so are cybersecurity experts. Precisely, there are ways to protect a system from such advanced forms of phishing attacks too. The ones that are most effective are listed below.
Multi-Factor Authentication
A strong password used to be enough in combination with other cybersecurity tools and practices, but when the threat is caused by advanced phishing, advanced protection techniques are needed. And MFA is that technique.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is the use of multiple security layers that are stacked one after the other after the backdoor password. It means, even if the hacker is able to crack the backdoor password of the system using phishing, there are still 3 or more layers that have to be cleared and crossed to access the information inside the system.
The added security layers include advanced detection techniques like the fingerprint or other biometrics like eye scanning. As long as all these layers won’t be cleared, the hacker will not be able breach the system security.
Router Protection
Protecting the router is another excellent way to protect your system from pharming.
- Patching the router is extremely helpful.
- Changing the DNS settings on the router or using encrypted DNS will increase the security manifolds.
To sum up, advanced online threats call for the implementation of advanced online security techniques. Only when you adopt such cybersecurity strategies that you’ll be able to protect the data of your company from hackers in a better way.
