---
title: "The Unseen Ripple Effect of a Phishing Attack | DuoCircle"
description: "Nobody wants to get phished. And if you think about getting phished, you probably envision a worst case scenario."
image: "https://www.duocircle.com/images/og-default.png"
canonical: "https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/the-unseen-ripple-effect-of-a-phishing-attack/"
---

Quick Answer

The visible cost of phishing (a credit hit, a drained bank account) understates the real damage, because a single compromise inside a business cascades to people who never clicked the link. The Sherwood, Arkansas telemarketing firm Heritage Company laid off 300 employees after a ransomware attack that started with phishing took down their servers, paid the ransom, and still could not regain market footing. Those employees lost their jobs without ever opening the malicious email. The pattern repeats: ransomware locks operations, customers cancel, contracts disappear, payroll runs short, layoffs follow. The implication for defenders is that phishing protection is not a personal-finance issue, it is a business-continuity issue. Link-time URL inspection, MFA, offline backups, and SPF/DKIM/DMARC at p=reject cost a fraction of one ripple event.

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![Phishing Attack](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/01/spf-record-tester-2587.jpg) 

_Nobody wants to get phished_. And if you think about getting phished, you probably envision a worst case scenario. Maybe you see your credit rating taking a hit or perhaps even getting your bank account drained. All very bad outcomes. But, these are just consequences you see from a potential **phishing attack**. _What can be much worse is the unseen ripple effect of a phishing attack_.

If a hacker uses **ransomware to lock** you out of your hard drive, that’s a problem. But if a hacker uses ransomware to lock out hard drives of a company’s servers, the ripple effect can be devastating. Such was the case of a telemarketing firm in Sherwood, Arkansas, which had to let go of 300 employees as a result.

“A couple of months after the ransomware attacks, the company was still struggling to recover from the losses, _which triggered a massive layoff of 300 people. The company could not regain its footing in the industry and resorted to firing its staff to cut its losses_.”

_This just goes to show the ripple effect of phishing attacks and ransomware_. Those employees weren’t necessarily the ones who got phished, and yet they are the ones paying the price.

In a letter to the employees, the CEO wrote, “Unfortunately, approximately two months ago our Heritage servers were attacked by malicious software that basically held us hostage for ransom and we were forced to pay the crooks to get the key just to get our systems back up and running.”

It’s wasn’t just locking out the servers which kept the company from operating. _It’s the idea that the company’s reputation took a hit to the point where their customers question whether or not they should even do business with them again_. Ripple effect.

[![Duocircle](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/01/spf-validator-6135.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/01/spf-validator-6135.jpg)

Perhaps the saddest thing of all is how little it would have taken to prevent this situation in the first place. Cloud-based Phishing Protection from [DuoCircle](/email/phishing-protection), with **real-time link click protection**, could have prevented the phishing email which caused all the problems. And how long would it have taken to install such a defense? Ten minutes. And how much would it have cost? _Less than 60₵ per employee per month_. Do you think the employees would have gladly agreed to pay that 60₵ per month to keep their jobs? There’s no doubt about it.

[![Phishing Protection](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/01/spf-record-generator-5789.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/01/spf-record-generator-5789.jpg)

There’s no reason to find out the hard way the disturbing ripple effect of a phishing attack. Deploy cloud-based [Phishing Protection](/email/phishing-protection) from DuoCircle. _It comes with 24/7 live tech support and a 30 day money-back guarantee_. You’ll be glad you did.

![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg) 

Brad Slavin 

General Manager

General Manager at DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across the email security portfolio.

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