Phishing has become a real threat to personal data
Email has become one of the main ways for hackers to retrieve personal data and information from internet users across the world. As these practices get more advanced it is important that people stay on top of these trends and how to avoid them. Especially through the act of specifically, trying to access an individual’s data through a fraudulent email, which is known as phishing.
What exactly is Phishing?
Phishing is the method of sending emails that claim to be from legitimate and reputable companies or people to retrieve personal data from individuals such as their login information, passwords and credit card or bank information. It is typically done in two ways: through attachments that they ask the user to open or by asking the individual to open a link that redirects them to a malicious lookalike website where they have to log in.
How do I identify phishing emails?
There are some key indicators that users should look for when checking their emails. This includes:
- Unusual email address: very often the email will act like someone you know or a company that you subscribe to like Apple or Netflix. One of the first indicators is an email that doesn’t match the usual email you see when getting messages from the source. Or an email with many characters and an unknown domain address.
- Incorrect Spelling Within the Email: this also includes misspelling on the website that the email takes you to.
- Urgency: emails that tell you that you must change something urgently, should always be met with caution. These emails often say that your account has been hacked or locked and must be unlocked within a short space of time. Email users who are unsure if the email is fraudulent should check the website of the company. For example, Apple and Netflix have web pages specifically dedicated to help users identify suspicious emails that claim to be from the company.
- Unrealistic deals: if you notice that the deals or offers that the email is selling you sounds too good to be true, the reality is, it might very well be. Checking the email and the company website for these deals is a good way to verify if the offers are valid.
- Attachments from Unknown Sender: Any attachments not from someone you know should be avoided, even if they come from companies you subscribe to, it is best to be cautious.
- Asking for Personal Information: If the email asks for any sort of personal information or to urgently change your personal information on the account, you should check for any of the points mentioned above such as a misspelling or a strange email address before clicking.
How do I avoid phishing attempts?
Knowing the potential threats as stated above will help you have a mental checklist of things to look out for. However, many anti-virus computer software can identify emails that might be a potential threat and email servers such as Gmail also offer services such as anti-virus scanning attachments to users.
However, being knowledgeable of indications of malicious emails is the best way to ensure you can avoid them.
Want to learn more about how you can identify and protect yourself from cyber scams? View the video below:
Join our mailing list, here.