Users always confront hazards from the internet, and phishing is one of them. Scammers take advantage of the widespread use of email by sending thousands of spam messages to unsuspecting recipients. These consist of questionable links (that lead to phony websites) and reply addresses that are intended to harvest user data from gullible individuals. Therefore, you need to read this article to get to know how to spot, report and prevent a phishing email. Let’s dive in now!
What Is Phishing?
Phishing is a type of cybercrime that uses deceptive electronic messages to trick people into giving up their personal information. Attackers try to get private or secret data, like usernames and passwords, credit card numbers, and more, by pretending to be real people or businesses. By appealing to victims’ emotions, they trick them into visiting dangerous websites and providing personal information.
A phishing email is the first step in 91% of cyber attacks. Email is still the most common way for phishing to happen (96% of all phishing attempts end up in a person’s inbox). However, every day, people use social engineering techniques other than email.
While most people are comfortable with sending and receiving emails, this is not necessarily true of their comprehension of how these processes work. Modern email interfaces are deceptively simple, leading users to believe their accounts are safe. However, emails pose a significant security risk due to the combination of human mistakes and hostile agents.
As with any other security measure, teaching your staff how to spot fraudulent emails is the first step. To combat this type of data theft, businesses must have anti-virus filters, email filtering, email encryption, and other tools in addition to employee education and awareness programs.
The following are some broad classifications of phishing emails:
#1. Targeted email scams or spear phishing
These assaults will not seem coincidental. In order to make the phishing email seem more legitimate, attackers would collect information about the target. There is a 65% success rate for social engineering attacks, such as spear phishing.
#2. Clone phishing
Emails are a prime target because attackers can easily replicate them and insert a malicious link or attachment into an already sent message.
#3. Whaling
They pose as legitimate business messages or legal notices to high-ranking company officials, often fooling them into providing sensitive information.
#4. Other forms of phishing
Even though email is where most scam attempts happen, people still get unwanted messages in other ways. Vishing is short for voice-impersonation phishing. Smishing refers to the practice of sending an email disguised as an SMS message.
What Is Phishing Message?
A phishing message is an email or text that looks like it came from a real company but was actually sent by a threat actor who wants to do harm.
Phishing messages can be transmitted through emails, websites, text messages, or even social media. People often send these messages by making them look like they are real messages from banks, the government, online service providers, or other groups.
Best Tips on How to Spot a Phishing Email
Sometimes all it takes to safeguard yourself against bogus emails is to be cautious about what you open. Emails from unknown senders or directed to a generic recipient list are telltale signs of phishing. Also, they have misspelled words, bad links, or online forms. Here are the best practices to spot a phishing email and prevent attacks:
#1. Emails requiring immediate attention
Emails requiring immediate attention are one of the best ways to spot a phishing email. Phishing emails often use scare tactics, such as threatening a negative outcome or the loss of an opportunity if the recipient does not act immediately. This is a common tactic used by attackers to force recipients to respond quickly before they have a chance to review the email for any errors or missing information.
#2. Check the name and address of the sender
Checking the name or address of the sender is also one of the means to spot a phishing email. Before you open an official email that seems to come from your bank or an online service provider, check out who sent it. Consider who might have sent the email. Is there a professional relationship between you and the sender? Did you honestly give them your email address? Examine the complete email address and evaluate it against other emails you may have gotten from them. Seek clarification if there are any discrepancies.
#3. Emails with grammatical and spelling errors
Checking out for grammatical errors is also a means to spot phishing email. Mistakes in grammar and spelling are another telltale sign of a phishing email. It is common practice for businesses to run spelling and grammar checks on all outbound emails. People who check their email in their web browsers may use the browser’s built-in autocorrect or highlight functions.
#4. Examine the greeting
One way to spot a phishing email is by the way they address you. This can help you figure out if the email is real or not. When corresponding with consumers by mail, service providers frequently use the recipient’s first name. If a bank or purported online business partner addresses you as “Dear Sir or Madam” or some other generic greeting, be wary. Scammers don’t always know the recipient’s name.
#5. Inconsistencies in email addresses, links and domain names
Another way to spot a phishing email is to look for email addresses, links, and website names that don’t match up. Does the sender’s email address belong to a regular business contact? If so, compare the email’s sender’s address to those you have on file for messages from the same company. Examine the pop-up that appears when you move the mouse pointer over a link to determine its legitimacy. It is important to report scam emails when the domain name doesn’t match what the email says it is from (for example, Google).
#6. Do not enter data via email
Companies that provide good services will never ask customers to send their information through email. An obvious telltale sign of a phishing email is the presence of an embedded HTML form asking you to enter sensitive information. Also, you will never be asked for your PIN or TAN over the phone or by email. This kind of information should only be entered on the verified secure domain of the service provider.
#7. Emails requesting login credentials, payment information or sensitive data
If you receive an email from someone you don’t know asking for personal information like a password, credit card number, or other sensitive data, you should handle it with extreme caution. Spear phishers might trick victims into entering sensitive information by sending them links to bogus login sites that look quite real. If someone gets an email that sends them to a login page or says a payment is due, they shouldn’t enter any information unless they are sure the email is real.
#8. Evoking an affective reaction
It’s important to stress that social engineering is almost always the key to success in phishing. Some phishing emails may look like they came from a reputable company, but others may use scare tactics like exaggerated threats or time constraints to get you to make a hasty, uninformed choice. For instance, a threat actor masquerading as your bank could try to swindle you by threatening to close your account. If you get an email that uses this much language, you should be wary right away and, most importantly, stay cool.
#9. Discrepancies between the sender name and email address
The good news is that this is yet another warning sign. The email sender’s name might look like the name of a trustworthy company to you, but the email address might not look trustworthy. An email from your bank’s name may arrive in your inbox, but the sender’s address may be a free email service like Gmail or Yahoo instead of the actual bank’s domain. A phishing effort is more likely if there is a discrepancy like this in an email.
#10. C-Executive fraud
Threat actors may attempt to obtain information about you or your organization by contacting you while impersonating as a C-level executive within your organization, such as the CEO or CFO. Check the sender’s email address to make sure it came from a legitimate business account, especially if you don’t regularly interact with this executive staff.
#11. Unrealistic and enticing email
Emails that seem too good to be true often promise the receiver a prize or other benefit in exchange for clicking on a link or opening an attachment. It is likely that the email is a phishing attempt if the sender is unknown and the receiver does not initiate contact.
#12. Suspicious attachments
One of the ways to spot phishing email is the suspicious attachments attach to it. Most file sharing at work now happens through teamwork tools like Dropbox, SharePoint, or OneDrive. That’s why you should always be wary of internal emails with files, especially if they end in.zip,.exe,.scr, or another extension that you don’t know and that is often associated with malware.
#13. Don’t feel pressured
Be wary of emails that insist you respond immediately. Most of the time, scammers use the big guns to pressure people on the internet into making quick choices. No legitimate business would ever threaten to cancel your credit card or contact debt collectors in an email.
Read Also: What Is a Common Indicator of a Phishing Attempt?
How to Prevent Phishing Email
While a robust phishing prevention solution is your best bet against phishing attacks, you may also take other precautions. Here is how to prevent a phishing email once you spot one:
#1. Educate through security awareness training
When people are educated on security, they are better able to avoid being the target of phishing attacks. Learn to spot the telltale signs of a phishing email, such as suspicious subject lines, before you give out any sensitive information. Never open attachments or click on links in emails you are skeptical of. However, you should send it to your IT staff or another reliable source to make sure it’s real.
#2. Use multi-factor authentication
MFA, or multi-factor authentication, makes it harder for someone to steal your data. This makes it harder for people to break into your account because you need more than one thing to sign in, like a password and a code from your phone. Along with a strong password, a real token or biometric identification adds another level of security to keep your information safe. You’ll get an instant alert if someone tries to access your account, giving you the chance to verify the login attempt immediately. When it comes to your social media accounts, this is especially crucial because hackers can sometimes use the same password to access your email inbox.
3. Regularly back up your data
Maintaining recent copies of your data is an effective defense against phishing attacks. You can avoid having to replace expensive data by restoring it from a backup in the case of a system failure or virus infection. Also, even if your main copy is lost or stolen, you’ll still be able to get to your information.
#4. Encrypt sensitive information
Encrypting your sensitive data can help protect it from phishing attacks. The reason for this is that it increases the level of difficulty for an unauthorized individual to access your data. Encrypting your passwords, credit card information, and other personal data will make you less susceptible to a phishing attack that uses spoofing.
#5. Keep security systems up-to-date
Updates to your security software are a great deterrent against phishing. Updates to your computer’s security can help keep it from getting malware or other bugs that could be used in a phishing attack. Therefore, keeping your software updated and installing the newest security patches is crucial so you’re not as vulnerable to these assaults.
Maintaining an up-to-date operating system is just as important as maintaining up-to-date antivirus software. Email assaults and complete system compromise are possible using vulnerabilities in older operating systems.
#6. Get serious about email encryption
Since so many people work from home, email is now one of the main ways we talk to clients and coworkers. Email is a popular means of communication, but it is also a frequent target of hackers. You and your company may lessen the likelihood of data leaks and cyberattacks by investing in email security. Using email encryption software can help ensure that your messages are secure from prying eyes. Also, it can help spam filters work better and look out for phishing efforts and other bad things.
Preventing Identity Theft by Blocking Phishing Emails
It is important to train all staff to recognize and report suspicious emails (even if they have been opened) to prevent phishing attacks. The chances are that if one of your personnel is the subject of a phishing assault, other employees will be as well. It’s crucial that workers have a safe way to report suspicious emails they come across in the workplace, therefore the phrase “if you see something, say something” should be a firm policy.
Potential phishing attempts and strange emails can be reported to security staff in a timely manner, allowing them to take preventative measures and lessen the likelihood that a threat would propagate across the network. When many reports of a phishing attempt are received, it is important to know which employees have the best eye for spotting fake emails.
How Does Scammers Use Phishing Emails to their Advantage?
Phishing attempts have one primary goal. Emails are sent out by cybercriminals pretending to be legitimate businesses like banks, payment processors, online marketplaces, or suppliers of e-commerce services. These emails trick users into disclosing personal information by asking them to fill out a form or click a link to a fake but official-looking website. The goal of phishing attacks is to get users’ usernames, passwords, PINs, and TANs so that scammers can buy things or make transactions on their accounts. When checking their bank statement, many victims of phishing email campaigns discover that their accounts have been compromised after discovering the purchase or transfer of strange products or funds.
How Can You tell Whether an Email You Received Was a Phishing Attempt?
The most prevalent signs of a phishing attack are requests for personal information, generic welcomes or absence thereof, misspellings, illegitimate “from” email addresses, strange URLs, and misleading hyperlinks.
How Detectable Are Phishing Emails?
You may not be able to connect a single email to a person, but you can get a sense of where it came from its header. Nevertheless, using IP addresses and other metadata, email providers, ISPs, and law enforcement organizations can locate specific persons through emails.
Can Someone Steal Your Information By Opening an Email?
No, opening an email is not enough to get hacked into. Clicking on a malicious link or opening a malicious attachment in an email is the only way to get hacked through email.
Does Opening a Scam Email Alert the Sender?
Email trackers, which sometimes include code in the email’s body, can learn when it was opened, how often it was opened, on what device, and even your physical location. In other words, email trackers are increasingly prevalent and can tell a great deal about their targets.
Final Thoughts
Once you spot a phishing email as such, you should delete it only after you have first blocked the sender. Here’s how to prevent further correspondence from that address. Get in touch with the ISP that supposedly issued the phishing email if you want to put a stop to the proliferation of spam in the long run. You can report phishing attempts to many service providers by filling out a simple email form on their website.
- ATTACK SURFACE: What is It & How Do You Protect It?
- ACCOUNT TAKEOVER: What Is It, How to Spot & Stop It?
- Smishing and Phishing: What Is The Difference?
References
