Phish Where the Fish Are

78%* of French people believe they have the right reflexes when it comes to cyberattacks, yet, 65%* of them still regularly click on malicious links.

Faced with this paradox, Orange, together with its agency Publicis Conseil, unveils a new campaign to raise public awareness and reinforce collective vigilance against the dangers of phishing as the threat intensifies.

Forget text messages or e-mails full of spelling mistakes : the cybercrime and hacking sector has radically changed and has become professionalized. Hacker groups have structured themselves, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, and have evolved their activities by creating and marketing increasingly sophisticated cyber scam tools, accessible to all on messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and others. Faced with these new cybercriminal organizations that are constantly innovating, Orange is offering a complete cybersecurity solution for individuals, leveraging the expertise of Orange Cyberdefense which was previously entirely dedicated to businesses.

At the core of this campaign is the mockumentary “Phish where the fish are”, which depicts the daily life of a fictitious start-up specializing in the design and sale of phishing kits enabling cyber crooks to hack like a pro. In some respects, similar organizations are already rooted and active in our territories.

This mockumentary, produced by Urbania Productions, is inspired by real-life testimonials from cybercriminals, and illustrates with chilling realism the cynicism and methods of web scammers. To amplify the visibility of this docu-drama, but also to create conversation, a network of influencers who are experts on the subject were activated. Influencers posted excerpts from the fake documentary on their social networks, without immediately revealing their connection with Orange. The full video was unveiled the following morning on the influencers' accounts, but was also presented to the press at the opening of the conference organized by Orange and hosted by Christel Heydemann (CEO of Orange Group Worldwide), Jean-François Fallacher (Executive President, CEO of Orange France) and Hugues Foulon (Executive President, CEO Orange Cyberdefense).

This digital activation is part of a wider communication campaign including a TV film, online videos (VOL), press ads and digital social media capsules broadcast on TikTok and Instagram. The aim is to promote Orange France's B2C cybersecurity offer to the general public.

On June 6, Orange is launching a participative platform with the expertise of Orange Cyberdefense to improve everyone's online security: cybersecurite.orange.fr. Orange proposes to create the largest community of vigilant users to verify or report phishing scams (following the example of Waze for road navigation). New verification requests analyzed by Orange Cyberdefense are integrated in a database of active threats, in real time.

Systematic use of the verification engine contributes to user protection, and ensures continuous improvement in line with new trends.

*Harris Interactive Study / Orange Cyberdefense May 2023
* Kapersky study / May 2023