Fighting Phishing

CHAPTER 10Advanced Defenses

Chapter 10 will round out Part III, “Technical Defenses,” by discussing advanced defenses, which covers everything from more sophisticated defenses to good defenses either difficult to deploy or rarely used. But make no mistake about it, these technical defenses, if implemented, could significantly diminish cybersecurity risks related to fighting social engineering and phishing.

AI-Based Content Filters

Previous chapters have covered the importance of having phish-mitigating content filters at both the network and endpoint levels. Any technical defense that can prevent a malicious message from making it to the end user is worthwhile. There are many dozens of Artificial Intelligence-based (AI-based) and otherwise, free and commercial systems, that will detect phishing messages.

The only downside is that most anti-phishing content filtering tools are directed only toward emails and maybe browser-based attacks. It is difficult to impossible to have the same level of content-filtering leveled at SMS-based messages, voice-based calls, productivity apps (like Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc.), and certainly in-person scams. The best future state we can imagine has some form of content-filtering tool involved no matter how the message arrives.

One definition of AI is the intended simulation of human intelligence, including a computer system being capable of producing brand-new content, thought, selection, and direction, beyond what it was directly instructed ...