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What is phishing and how can you identify a phishing email?
Phishing emails and text messages often tell a story to trick you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment.
- say they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or log-in attempts.
- claim there’s a problem with your account or your payment information.
- say you must confirm some personal information.
- include a fake invoice.
What is meant by phishing attack?
Phishing attacks are the practice of sending fraudulent communications that appear to come from a reputable source. It is usually done through email. The goal is to steal sensitive data like credit card and login information, or to install malware on the victim’s machine.
How do I verify a phishing email?
5 ways to detect a phishing email – with examples
- The message is sent from a public email domain. No legitimate organisation will send emails from an address that ends ‘@gmail.com’.
- The domain name is misspelt.
- The email is poorly written.
- It includes suspicious attachments or links.
- The message creates a sense of urgency.
Why is it called phishing?
Some say the term phishing got influences from the word fishing. Analogous to fishing, phishing is also a technique to “fish” for usernames, passwords, and other sensitive information, from a “sea” of users. Hackers generally use the letter “ph” instead of “f” and therefore initially they were known as phreaks.
What are the top 5 characteristics of phishing emails?
5 Characteristics of a Phishing Email
- The email makes unrealistic threats or demands. Intimidation has become a popular tactic for phishing scams.
- There’s a catch.
- Poor spelling and grammar.
- A mismatched or dodgy URL.
- You are asked for sensitive information.
How do spear phishing attacks differ from standard phishing attacks?
Spear phishing is targeted and personalized to a specific individual, group, or organization. Conversely, regular phishing emails use a broad-strokes approach that involves sending bulk emails to massive lists of unsuspecting contacts.
How do you identify a suspicious link?
An easy trick to spot a suspicious link is by hovering your mouse over it. A little box should appear that tells you where the link is actually taking you. Test it out on the link we shared above. It’s from a friend, but it’s out of character.
How can phishing attacks be prevented?
Anti-spyware and firewall settings should be used to prevent phishing attacks and users should update the programs regularly. Firewall protection prevents access to malicious files by blocking the attacks. Antivirus software scans every file which comes through the Internet to your computer.