Phishing Threat Neutralized with Proactive Cybersecurity

In a recent project, we assisted a client with a phishing incident that could have ended much worse. The issue began when an employee clicked on an email posing as a Social Security notice. It looked legitimate, but they quickly realized their mistake—spotting that the sender’s address wasn’t from a real government domain (.gov). Thankfully, our security system reported it immediately and acted fast to contain the situation.

We initiated a remote session to investigate and found evidence that a malicious actor, originally from Brazil but using a German IP, had gained access. However, thanks to our security system’s automatic protections, the suspicious IP was blocked for two weeks, stopping the attacker in their tracks before any harm was done.

The situation could have been much worse, as the client manages a large amount of financial and client data. Initially, Screen Connect was permitted because it is software that is used and approved by Layer 2 computers. It allowed it to stay connected to the internet but since the system had restricted its network access, it couldn’t communicate with external websites, effectively neutralizing the threat before it escalated.

We were alerted to the unusual activity and cleaned up the affected machine. After a thorough review, it was confirmed there were no fraudulent transactions or unauthorized activity anywhere in the client's accounts—much to their relief.

The client was grateful that there were no serious consequences from the incident and appreciated that everything was contained so swiftly. This project is a great reminder of how important proactive cybersecurity is in keeping sensitive information safe, especially when human errors happen.

If you want peace of mind knowing your business is protected—even when mistakes happen—reach out to us. We’ll handle the monitoring and ensure threats are caught before they become problems.