phishingguide-blog

[phishingguide-blog]

All You Need to Know About Phishing

Email is an essential part of our everyday communications. It is also one of the most common methods that hackers use to attempt to gain access to sensitive information. More than 90% of data breaches start with a phishing attack. 

Phishing uses fraudulent email messages designed to impersonate a legitimate person or organization and trick the recipient into downloading harmful attachments or divulging sensitive information, such as passwords, bank account numbers, and social security numbers.

What is Phishing?

Phishing is usually an attempt to deceive you into thinking a legitimate organization is requesting information from you. These requests for information may look innocent at first glance or may seem to come from a legitimate source, but do not. These scams request you reply to an email, respond to a request by phone, or follow a link to a web site.

Email phishing attempts often give clear indications that the request is not legitimate and we will show you some examples on this page.  Links to web sites (sent to you through email) often take you to web pages that look very similar to the legitimate service the email is faking. Banks, E-bay, and online e-cash services like Paypal are common targets; however, phishing attempts are sometimes targeted against specific groups or lists of individuals and are called “spear phishing.”

To read more, visit - angelo.edu.

How Does Phishing Work?

Cybercriminals pose as legitimate businesses or organizations and send socially engineered messages to trick their victims into:

Providing their credentials (username and password) or other personally identifiable or private information

Launching malicious files on their computers

Opening links to infected websites

Opening attachments that do things like plant malware onto the user’s device that steals credentials and other PII directly by collecting this data when it is entered by the user

While the majority of phishing messages are delivered via email, they can also come from other sources, including:  

Phone calls/Voicemails

Fraudulent software (e.g, fake anti-virus)

Social Media messages (e.g., Facebook, Twitter)

Advertisements

Text messages

Get more info on this over at - UNH.

Phishing scams can have a number of different goals. They may attempt to:

Target your cash and payment card data

Gain control of your computer and local network resources

Gain access to your University Computing Account and resources

Phishing scams typically attempt to take advantage of you by:

Delivering file attachments that can infect your computer with harmful software

Enticing you to click on links to websites that infect your computer with harmful software

Tricking you into sharing your username and password so hackers can gain access to your network or other sites

You can identify a phishing scam by looking for email messages that:

Create a sense of urgency

Invoke strong emotions, like greed or fear

Request sensitive data

Contain links that do not appear to match legitimate resources for the organization that is contacting you

To know more, visit - University of Pittsburgh.

There are several ways attackers use phishing to get what they want:

Harvesting Information: The attacker’s goal is to harvest your personal information, such as your passwords, credit card numbers or banking details. To do this, they email you a link that takes you to a website that appears legitimate. This website then asks you to provide your account information or personal data. However, the site is fake, and any information you enter goes directly to the attacker.

Malicious Links: The attacker’s goal is to take control of your device. To do this, they send you an email with a link. If you click on the link, it takes you to a website that launches an attack on your device that, if successful, infects your system.

Malicious Attachments: The attacker’s goal is the same, to infect and take control of your device. But instead of a link, the attacker emails you an infected file, such as a Word document. Opening the attachment triggers the attack, potentially giving the attacker control of your system.

Scams: Some phishing emails are nothing more than scams by con artists who have gone digital. They try to fool you by saying you won the lottery, pretending to be a charity needing donations or asking for your help to move millions of dollars. If you respond to any of these, they will say they first need payment for their services or access to your bank account, scamming you out of your money…visit - SANS to know more.

The threat of phishing cannot be destroyed fully by these measures so you need to hire the services of professionals as they can help you to be safe from these attacks. Click here to know more about phishing protection services.

[phishingguide-blog]

All You Need to Know About Phishing

Email is an essential part of our everyday communications. It is also one of the most common methods that hackers use to attempt to gain access to sensitive information. More than 90% of data breaches start with a phishing attack. 

Phishing uses fraudulent email messages designed to impersonate a legitimate person or organization and trick the recipient into downloading harmful attachments or divulging sensitive information, such as passwords, bank account numbers, and social security numbers.

What is Phishing?

Phishing is usually an attempt to deceive you into thinking a legitimate organization is requesting information from you. These requests for information may look innocent at first glance or may seem to come from a legitimate source, but do not. These scams request you reply to an email, respond to a request by phone, or follow a link to a web site.

Email phishing attempts often give clear indications that the request is not legitimate and we will show you some examples on this page.  Links to web sites (sent to you through email) often take you to web pages that look very similar to the legitimate service the email is faking. Banks, E-bay, and online e-cash services like Paypal are common targets; however, phishing attempts are sometimes targeted against specific groups or lists of individuals and are called “spear phishing.”

To read more, visit - angelo.edu.

How Does Phishing Work?

Cybercriminals pose as legitimate businesses or organizations and send socially engineered messages to trick their victims into:

Providing their credentials (username and password) or other personally identifiable or private information

Launching malicious files on their computers

Opening links to infected websites

Opening attachments that do things like plant malware onto the user’s device that steals credentials and other PII directly by collecting this data when it is entered by the user

While the majority of phishing messages are delivered via email, they can also come from other sources, including:  

Phone calls/Voicemails

Fraudulent software (e.g, fake anti-virus)

Social Media messages (e.g., Facebook, Twitter)

Advertisements

Text messages

Get more info on this over at - UNH.

Phishing scams can have a number of different goals. They may attempt to:

Target your cash and payment card data

Gain control of your computer and local network resources

Gain access to your University Computing Account and resources

Phishing scams typically attempt to take advantage of you by:

Delivering file attachments that can infect your computer with harmful software

Enticing you to click on links to websites that infect your computer with harmful software

Tricking you into sharing your username and password so hackers can gain access to your network or other sites

You can identify a phishing scam by looking for email messages that:

Create a sense of urgency

Invoke strong emotions, like greed or fear

Request sensitive data

Contain links that do not appear to match legitimate resources for the organization that is contacting you

To know more, visit - University of Pittsburgh.

There are several ways attackers use phishing to get what they want:

Harvesting Information: The attacker’s goal is to harvest your personal information, such as your passwords, credit card numbers or banking details. To do this, they email you a link that takes you to a website that appears legitimate. This website then asks you to provide your account information or personal data. However, the site is fake, and any information you enter goes directly to the attacker.

Malicious Links: The attacker’s goal is to take control of your device. To do this, they send you an email with a link. If you click on the link, it takes you to a website that launches an attack on your device that, if successful, infects your system.

Malicious Attachments: The attacker’s goal is the same, to infect and take control of your device. But instead of a link, the attacker emails you an infected file, such as a Word document. Opening the attachment triggers the attack, potentially giving the attacker control of your system.

Scams: Some phishing emails are nothing more than scams by con artists who have gone digital. They try to fool you by saying you won the lottery, pretending to be a charity needing donations or asking for your help to move millions of dollars. If you respond to any of these, they will say they first need payment for their services or access to your bank account, scamming you out of your money...visit - SANS to know more.

The threat of phishing cannot be destroyed fully by these measures so you need to hire the services of professionals as they can help you to be safe from these attacks. Click here to know more about phishing protection services.