Interview: Joe Ferrara – fighting phishing

Phishing has become the preferred technique for any number of scams and attacks. It's often the first stage in targeted attacks – so-called Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) – and we've recently seen it being used by a variety of hacktivists and hackers for hijacking online accounts – most notably, the high-profile takeovers of Twitter accounts belonging to major media organisations by hackers loyal to the Government in Syria. It clearly works – but why? We spoke to Joe Ferrara, CEO of Wombat Security Technologies about the nature of the threat and how to combat it. Phishing has become the preferred technique for any number of scams and attacks. It's often the first stage in targeted attacks and for hijacking online accounts. It clearly works – but why? We spoke to Joe Ferrara, CEO of Wombat Security Technologies about the nature of the threat. He believes the answer lies in testing, using simulated attacks against employees, closely tied to training.