Social engineering is a very important component of many modern cyberattacks, as the popularity of phishing scams goes to show. Protecting yourself from phishing scams will require you to be able to identify them. For today’s tip, we’ll go over a few warning signs that someone may be trying to phish you through your email.
It’s one thing to get an unexpected email from someone, it’s completely another thing entirely to get an email from someone that includes an unexpected attachment or link. Neither of these is a good thing. Attachments can easily contain hidden malware files, and links can be disguised with very little effort.
Don’t believe me? Try visiting google.com. Go ahead!
Not exactly what you were expecting, eh? Keep in mind that you can double-check links by hovering your cursor over them, and if you weren’t anticipating an attachment, don’t click it unless you have confirmed its legitimacy through some other means.
It isn’t uncommon for scammers to disguise a fraudulent email address by making it look at lot like a legitimate one would. For instance, let’s say that you normally worked with a business vendor, hypothetically named “Super Business Supplies.” A scammer might send you an email from “sales (at) superbusinessupplies.com.” Looks pretty okay, until you notice that there’s one fewer ‘s’ than there should be. Scammers can get downright devious with these replacements, replacing “Amazon” with “Arnazon” and other blink-and-you’ll-miss-it tricks.
In short, read carefully.
While that may be a very vague tip, it is only because there is such a wide variety of warning signs that an email is actually a phishing attempt. For instance:
Email can be an extremely helpful business tool, but it can also be an equally useful tool for cybercriminals looking to victimize your business. Graemouse Technologies can help you secure it, with best practices and practical solutions to lock it down. To learn more, reach out to us at 253.777.0763.
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