Making communication safe over the intent is a challenge for both the individuals and businesses because there is always a risk of information leaks via emails, phone calls or through social media. If these channels are not secure enough, then how transferring delicate information can take place? Cybercriminals strive hard to come up with thought out and latest forms of social engineering which they use to commence attack on their particular targets to gain their information, this is known as phishing.
Phishing attack; a deceptively smart digital illusion
The attack can be executed by any preferred source of communication such as emails, social media or even phone calls; the potential targets are asked to confirm their personal information thus giving away their personal data. For a tough audience, you must ponder; why these targets can't differentiate between the authentic email sent by the original source and the fake, fraudulent emails? The reason behind this is because these so-called un-official emails seem to be authentic down to the minute details.
The endgame is to lure the targets into confirming their personal information or opening/clicking an attachment/link within the email that can infect their computers with malware or virus. This way, the cybercriminals can have access to your personal data, how they please or more bitterly when they please. Phishing is the most common and yet most dangerous cyber-attack out there that takes on its targets as bait and sadly many falls for it unknowingly.
You can stop a phishing attack, but before you can do that you should be able to spot it first, the following tips will help you to understand better about the phishing attack and how you can spot it;
- Asking to confirm your personal details
Once an email arrives in your inbox you have no reason to label it as "unofficial", it might look very authentic to the style and the layout used by your trusted company or of the bank you use. Cybercriminals will often go to daunting lengths to make sure that the crafted email is, in fact, genuine or correct imitation of the authentic source. So, how this fabricated email can be spotted, it looks pretty authentic? Here, the subject of this email can help you greatly; no business/company or bank will ever email you to confirm or hand over your personal information via email. It is just not the standard proceeding which they would go through for collecting your personal information.
This is long done when you open up your account or start a business with a particular company or organization; you need to be very mindful in these situations. When you have made the email as illicit or fraudulent, there is no need to reply or click any external links provided in the email. No action is necessary here, it is a clear representation of phishing attack, and you need to delete it at once and dodging this bullet of using unethical ways to steal your information.
- Contradiction amongst website and email address
When a genuine website needs to be in touch with you, they will use an authentic email address that matches the exact URL of the website that contacted you. If you observe a phishing email closely, then you will come to know that it looks pretty much the authentic email that would be sent by the official site. But there are some things that stand out as bizarre, and you can use these to spot the email as a phishing attack.
The email body structure might appeal to look authentic, but you need to direct your attention towards the email address used by this source. They might have used a bogus email address intending it to be authentic, e.g. @mail.airbnb.work where the authentic email address should have been @Airbnb.com. This is how you can turn down any illicit email trying to get their hands over your personal info, remember the whole email body could be infused with malware or other malicious links. Be mindful, don’t click anywhere nor open these links by any chance and you will be saved from the catastrophe waiting for you in disguise.
- Draft of the received email
A cybercriminal might be top of their game constructing and executing a phishing attack, but they are no literary geniuses. It is almost amazing how you can come around the unauthenticity of the phishing email by paying a little more attention to the wording, grammar and spelling errors made in the body of the message composed.
If a particular email was to be sent by an authentic website source, then it should be exhaustedly checked for spelling and grammar errors before sending it to you. If the email you received has similar concerns regarding the grammar and spelling errors, then it is a clear indicator of a phishing attack, and you need not reply or interact with it by any means necessary.
- Email subject; designed to deliver panic
One of the fundamental features of a phishing attack is that it is designed or crafted to deliver a chilling effect to the recipient. It would either be filled with panicking or alarming messages about shutting down your account or tempting the recipient to provide their personal information for verification on an urgent basis. No matter how urgent the situation is, a legitimate website would never add panic infused statements in their email.
Another demonstration of phishing email would be to make you believe that your account has been breached or compromised, and an instant authentical is required to hand over the account's control to you. If you have been delivered an email making you concerned about the illustrations mentioned above, then you need to stop, think it through and then instead of replying to the email contact the website or company instead.
Malicious links in the emails, social media posts and online advertisement is how cyber criminals make you vulnerable and hunt your private information. If the arrived email looks even slightly off or suspicious to you then don't take any action and delete it, you will be saving yourself a great deal.
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