Smishing is a cyber crime that uses manipulative text messages to steal people's confidential personal and corporate information, similar to phishing emails.
Cyber criminals send carefully-worded text messages to the victim, urging the victim to respond or to take further action. The text message might ask the victim to confirm delivery of an Amazon order or ask the recipient to click a link to finish registering in a new government program.
The ultimate goal of any smishing tactic is the same – to compromise people by stealing confidential information.
Smishing relies on social engineering to get victims to respond and take action.
Using urgent language, the text message may threaten the victim with severe consequences if they don’t take action or convince the victim that they’re helping the sender by providing the requested information.
How Common Is Smishing?
Despite being a somewhat unheralded manifestation of phishing and social engineering, smishing is causing millions of dollars in losses for organizations worldwide.
In 2024, smishing incidents surged, affecting 76% of businesses and resulting in a 328% rise in cases, with average global losses reaching $800 per incident.
From a consumer perspective, personal cell phones send four times more SMS messages than emails daily. Couple this with the exponential year-over-year growth of smartphone sales, and the significance of this cyber threat will only escalate in the coming decade.
Focusing on end users key to reducing smishing risk
As unprecedented digital transformation impacts industries worldwide, organizations must bolster their phishing awareness training through current, multifaceted phishing simulation and security awareness training initiatives.
To access the latest global phishing benchmarks from the Gone Phishing Tournament and expert insights on reducing smishing and phishing risks, download your free copy of the report.
What is social engineering?
Social engineering is a technique used by cyber criminals to trick people into giving up confidential information. Social engineering relies on the basic human instinct of trust to steal personal and corporate information that can be used to commit further cyber crimes.
How Does Smishing Happen?
Smishing happens when a cybercriminal capitalizes on the human tendencies of trust and wanting to help others. The cybercriminal knows people are motivated by persuasive language such as “Act Now,” “Urgent!” or “Don’t Miss Out!”.
Natural curiosity drives people to want to know more about the promised reward, the unexpected Amazon delivery, or the new government subsidy program. Typically, smishing victims respond instantly without carefully reading the text, missing out on telltale signs that the message is a scam.
People tend to read and respond to texts wherever they are and regardless of what they’re doing. Cybercriminals prey on this level of distraction to catch people off-guard.
What Are The Different Smishing Tactics?
1. Fake Link Tactic
The text message sender pretends to represent a valid organization and includes a link similar to the actual URL for the organization. The sender asks the recipient to click the link and take action, such as updating personal information, confirming delivery of a package, or entering a drawing for a free prize.
The text message sender pretends to represent a valid organization and includes a link similar to the actual URL for the organization. The sender asks the recipient to click the link and take action, such as updating personal information, confirming delivery of a package, or entering a drawing for a free prize.
2. Convincing Phone Call
The text tells the victim to call the sender back. The text often appears to come from a government or city organization and uses urgent language to convince the victim to take immediate action to protect themselves from severe consequences. When the victim calls the number, they speak to a person who sounds legitimate, is very helpful, and reassuring – the victim believes they’re doing the right thing by providing the information the person needs.
The text tells the victim to call the sender back. The text often appears to come from a government or city organization and uses urgent language to convince the victim to take immediate action to protect themselves from severe consequences. When the victim calls the number, they speak to a person who sounds legitimate, is very helpful, and reassuring – the victim believes they’re doing the right thing by providing the information the person needs.
3. Malware Attack
The text includes a link to an executable file that installs malware on the victim’s mobile device. Typically, the cybercriminal installs Trojan Horse software that captures and records the victim’s keystrokes, making it easy to steal passwords, contact lists, banking information, etc.
The text includes a link to an executable file that installs malware on the victim’s mobile device. Typically, the cybercriminal installs Trojan Horse software that captures and records the victim’s keystrokes, making it easy to steal passwords, contact lists, banking information, etc.
4. Spear Smishing
This type of smishing takes more work and research on behalf of the cybercriminal. Using background information on the victim collected from social media sites, the cybercriminal sends a targeted and specific smishing attack that appears to be legitimate. Due to the personal nature of the smishing message, the victim trusts the sender and doesn’t hesitate to respond.
This type of smishing takes more work and research on behalf of the cybercriminal. Using background information on the victim collected from social media sites, the cybercriminal sends a targeted and specific smishing attack that appears to be legitimate. Due to the personal nature of the smishing message, the victim trusts the sender and doesn’t hesitate to respond.
How To Prevent Smishing Attacks
1. Educate your employees about the potential risks associated with text messages. Use security awareness training and simulations to educate employees with real-world scenarios.
2. Remind employees to never respond to or click links in texts from senders and phone numbers they do not recognize. Employees should block the text message and delete them from their devices.
3. Use security awareness campaigns to alert employees to social engineering and how cybercriminals send convincing, urgent texts.
4. Ask your security leaders and internal cyber heroes to regularly monitor employee awareness of smishing. Emphasize to employees the importance of carefully reading every text and, if unsure, refraining from responding.
5. Use security awareness training and simulations to raise awareness of the risks of clicking links and downloading attachments in texts. Utilize training that incorporates gamification along with micro- and nanolearning modules to maintain an interactive and engaging experience.
6. Install malware protection and anti-virus software on all employee mobile devices. This is especially crucial for companies that have a bring your own device (BYOD) policy.
7. Conduct regular communication and awareness campaigns focused on smishing, social engineering, and cybersecurity. Continuously remind employees not to click on links or respond to messages from unknown senders.
What Not to Do with a Smishing Text
- Do NOT reply to a smishing text
- Do NOT call the sender phone number
- Do NOT click any links
- Do NOT send a STOP text message
What Is a Phishing Simulation?
Phishing simulations are one of the most effective ways to raise awareness of the risks associated with phishing and smishing. Keep in mind that smishing is a form of phishing, and cybercriminals frequently use both phishing and smishing tactics simultaneously.
Phishing simulations are essential for identifying employees who may be vulnerable to cybercrimes via emails and text messages. Real-time phishing simulations are vital for any successful security awareness training program.
Security awareness training and phishing simulations help raise alertness levels to cybersecurity threats. Phishing simulations provide individuals with hands-on experiences with smishing, so they know the signs and what to look for.
How Can Phishing Simulations Help Prevent Smishing Attacks?
Phishing simulations help you show employees how cyber criminals use text messages to steal and commit cyber crimes.
1. Increases alertness levels to how cybercriminals use manipulative language in text messages.
2. Changes human behavior to eliminate the automatic trust response.
3. Creates awareness to reduce the cyber threat level.
4. Measures and monitors the level of corporate and employee vulnerability.
5. Deploys targeted ant-smishing solutions.
6. Assesses the effectiveness of cybersecurity awareness training.
7. Keeps employee alertness levels to smishing threat high at all times.
8. Protects sensitive corporate and personal information.
9. Instills a cybersecurity culture and helps transform end users into cyber heroes.
10. Meets industry security training compliance obligations.
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