How To Help Recognize Phishing Attempts

            If a hacker wants to gain access to your private information, a common tactic they will use is called phishing. Phishing, put simply, is when someone sends you an email while pretending to be someone that they are not in order to trick you into giving them information that they are not entitled to or clicking on a link that will download malware onto your computer. Here are some tips that can help you spot phishing attempts:

 

1. False Urgency

Phishing emails will often try to make you think that you need to act quickly in order to get your information before you look too closely at the content of the email. Let’s look at an example. Say you get an email from an e-commerce website, claiming that someone is using your account for fraudulent activity, and that you need to click on a link and provide your username and password to verify your identity and secure your account. Before you click on the link, stop and think. Do you really have an account with this website? Does this email look like it came from an official representative of the business in question? Does your account or bank statement have any evidence of purchases being made without your knowledge? If not, the person who sent you this message could be an imposter trying to urge you to give them your login credentials so that they can take control of your account. Stop and think before giving your private information to someone that you do not know or trust.

2. Pretending To Know You

When you receive a message from a legitimate business, it should contain some type of identifying information when addressing you, such as your name, your account number, etc. When hackers send out spam emails, they send them en-masse in the hope that at least a few people will fall for their scam. Someone should be able to prove that they know who they are speaking to before they ask you for information. Hackers do not have this information, and may address you with generic, impersonal terms, such as “customer” or “user” that could apply to anyone.

3. Unsolicited Messages

If you don’t recognize the content of a message, it may be illegitimate. For example, when you ask a website to help you reset your password, they should send you a link to reset it soon afterwards. Similarly, if you have just purchased something, you might receive an email with a receipt that will let you review your purchase. These types of messages are typically sent immediately after the action that prompted them, and messages sent out of the blue should not be trusted, especially if you do not remember requesting them.

 

 

4. Read A Link Before You Click On It

If a hacker has sent you an email while pretending to be someone else, clicking on a link in the email could take you to a fake website designed to look like a legitimate one, and any information you enter could be stolen. Alternatively, clicking a malicious link could download a virus to your computer. Before clicking on a link, hover your mouse cursor over the link to display the full URL of the link. If the URL does not seem consistent with the formatting of the website it claims to be taking you to, or if the link looks like it would lead you somewhere else entirely, it could be a phishing attempt. Also, only website with https:// at the beginning of the URL are secure. Any information you enter on an unsecured “http://” website could be intercepted.

 

There are many more signs that an email you have received could be a phishing attempt, but these tips should give you a good head start. If you would like to see examples of phishing attempts and test your ability to tell the difference between a legitimate email and an illegitimate one, I recommend that you take SonicWall’s phishing IQ test. SonicWall is a company that specializes in Internet and network security, and their short quiz is an excellent resource.

The test can be found here: https://www.sonicwall.com/phishing-iq-test/