At a recent FutureCISO Breakfast briefing, this one on the topic of “Looming cyberthreats in 2022 – Tipping the scale in your favour”, one of the areas covered was the different types of attacks used to get the target to click on a link. 

During the panel discussion, it was acknowledged that cybercriminals are employing as many tactics as they can to get the intended target to fall prey to the attack. Given that targets are becoming more aware of what fake content, in the form of social postings, email messages and websites looks like, criminal elements are decidedly combining previous attack approaches in the hope of landing that next victim.

One such attack is referred to as Telephone-oriented attack deliveries or TOADS. To talk to us about this form of threat is Adrian Covich, Senior Director of Systems Engineering, Asia Pacific and Japan at Proofpoint.

1.                   What is a telephone-oriented attack delivery, or TOAD?

2.                   How dangerous can TOADs be? Could you give some examples of how TOADs can impact consumers and businesses?

3.                   Though call centre threats are not new, they are evolving to become part of a robust and complex attack chain. Could you elaborate more on this?

4.                   How do you protect against these TOADS – viewed from the perspective of the enterprise and the consumer?

5.                   What are the top challenges that companies like Proofpoint face when it comes to battling TOADs and other phishing attacks?

6.                   What are some strategies that can be put into place?