Tag Archive for: scams

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Use These 5 Rules to Block Phishing Emails From Your Inbox

Your email inbox is likely rammed full of suspicious emails. Despite your best efforts, at some point, you’re bound to click on one; don’t worry, we all do it. However, you can try to keep your inbox phishing-free with a few simple tips and rules.

– Hover Over Links Before Clicking

One of the easiest ways to protect yourself from phishing attempts is to hover over any links before clicking them. This simple action can reveal the actual URL behind the anchor text, giving you a better idea of where it will take you.

When you hover over a link, make sure the URL matches the expected destination. If you expect to go to your bank’s website, but the URL looks unfamiliar or suspicious, it’s best to avoid clicking on it altogether.

Be particularly cautious of shortened links, as they can easily mask the true destination. Scammers often use link shorteners to hide malicious URLs behind seemingly innocuous ones. If you must click on a shortened link, consider using a URL checker to scan for potential threats.

URL checkers, such as VirusTotal or URLVoid, can help you determine whether a shortened link leads to a fraudulent or malicious site. So, just by taking a moment to verify the safety of a link, you can save yourself from potential headaches down the road.

– Set Up Email Rules and Filters

Another effective way to keep phishing emails at bay is to set up rules and filters within Outlook or another email client. These tools allow you to automatically sort incoming messages based on specific criteria, helping you separate legitimate emails from potential threats.

Start by creating rules based on the sender. Suppose you consistently receive phishing attempts from a particular email address or domain. In that case, you can create a rule that automatically moves these messages to a separate folder or marks them as spam.

Implementing language-based filters can also be helpful. Many phishing emails contain poor grammar, spelling errors, or unusual phrasing. By setting up filters that flag emails containing these red flags, you can easily identify and avoid potential scams.

Other filtering criteria might include subject lines containing urgent or threatening language, emails with attachments from unknown senders, or messages from countries where you don’t typically receive correspondence.

– Block Suspicious Email Addresses

If you spot phishing emails from the same sender, it may be time to take a more proactive approach. Most email clients offer the option to block specific email addresses, preventing future messages from reaching your inbox.

Blocking suspicious email addresses can provide extra protection against persistent scammers. Once blocked, these senders can no longer contact you, reducing the risk of accidentally falling for one of their schemes.

However, scammers may try to circumvent these blocks by creating new email addresses. Therefore, you need to consistently block suspicious senders and stay vigilant.

– Report Phishing Emails as Spam

When you come across a phishing email in your inbox, don’t just delete it—besides blocking the sender, take a moment to report it as spam. This simple action can have far-reaching benefits for both you and other email users.

When you report phishing emails as spam, it helps train your email client to recognize and filter out similar messages in the future. Over time, this can significantly reduce the number of phishing attempts that make it to your inbox.

Moreover, reporting an email as spam contributes to improving collective spam detection. Email providers use this feedback to update their algorithms, making identifying and blocking phishing attempts easier for all users.

– Regularly Update Your Email Client

One often overlooked aspect of protecting yourself from phishing emails is keeping your email client up-to-date. Software updates usually include important security patches and improvements that can help detect and prevent the latest phishing techniques.

Just regularly update your email client to ensure you have access to the most recent security features and spam detection algorithms. These updates can be the difference between falling victim to a phishing scam and avoiding it altogether.

Most email clients offer automatic updates. So, it gets easy to stay protected without much effort on your part. However, if you’re prompted to install an update manually, don’t put it off—take a few minutes to complete the process and give yourself that extra peace of mind.

So, by following these simple rules—hovering over links, setting up filters, blocking suspicious senders, reporting spam, and keeping your email client updated—you can significantly reduce your risk of falling for a phishing scam. And if you do slip up, don’t panic; you can still mitigate the phishing damage.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from MakeUseOf.com SOURCE

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Decryptors
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You’re Not Imagining It: Phishing Attacks Are Rampant

Does it feel like your inbox is constantly bombarded by phishing scams? You’re not imagining it; phishing emails saw a dramatic uptick in the first half of 2024, a trend expected to be matched in the second half of the year.

Phishing Emails Are Laying Siege to Your Inbox

A report from security research firm Egress found a massive 28 percent increase in phishing emails between April 1st and June 30th, 2024, compared to January 1st and March 31st, with millennials being the most targeted demographic.

The constant rise in phishing emails is likely not a surprise to you, even considering seasonal phishing trends that attempt to use specific events to trick us. But what might be more of a surprise is that in some phishing campaigns, a malicious attachment is no longer the preferred method of catching you out.

Egress found that the number of phishing emails using a malicious attachment dropped by around 30 percent from 2021 to 2024 while phishing hyperlinks grew to become the most popular phishing method. The research puts this change down to a few key changes in security practices, but in short, most folks know about malicious attachments, and organizations have gone to great lengths to block them. Whereas it’s easier to mask a malicious hyperlink and slip through malware and phishing detection tools.

Impersonation Phishing Scams Are Also Rampant

My inbox receives its fair share of faceless, nameless phishing attempts, but there are also slightly better-quality impersonation phishing attempts. Egress calls these impersonation phishing attacks “commodity” attacks, but it’s just a new name for the same threat: “mass-produced, malicious campaigns that typically mimic spam by impersonating brands on a large scale.”

Between January 1st and August 31st, 2024, over a quarter of phishing emails impersonated brands, with a further 16 percent attempting to impersonate the recipient’s company (as part of spear phishing campaigns). As you might expect, the most impersonated brands are the biggest in the world, with Adobe, Microsoft, DHL, and others topping the lists.

But scammers are taking impersonation phishing to the next level, too. Instead of firing out millions of emails and hoping for a hit, some use multi-channel attacks to create a stronger illusion. In one example, Egress found scammers sending a phishing email impersonating Evri (a UK courier service), then following up the email with a malicious SMS (known as a smishing attack). The combination of messaging from a single source using related terms, tracking numbers, and so on is much harder to ignore than a random phishing email or SMS.

How to Spot Phishing Emails and Keep Your Inbox Safe

Egress’ findings are backed up separate research from Abnormal Security, who’s H2 2024 Email Threat Report saw a bonkers 350 percent increase in phishing attacks from 2023 to 2024.

And with the majority of these phishing scams attempting to exploit legitimate domains and email services and impersonate global businesses, it’s important to take a moment to familiarize yourself with how to spot a phishing email.

  • Unofficial Email Addresses That Look Legitimate: Phishers often use email addresses that closely resemble those of reputable organizations. For example, they might use “support@yourbank-secure.com” instead of the official “support@yourbank.com.” Always verify the sender’s address carefully.
  • Generic Greetings and Lack of Personalization: Legitimate companies usually address you by name. Phishing emails often use generic salutations like “Dear Customer,” indicating they don’t have your personal details.
  • Urgent or Threatening Language: Scammers create a sense of urgency to prompt immediate action, such as claiming your account will be suspended unless you verify the information. Be cautious of emails pressuring you to act quickly.
  • Suspicious Links or Attachments: Phishing emails may contain links that appear legitimate but direct you to fraudulent websites. Hover over links to see the actual URL before clicking, and avoid downloading unexpected attachments.
  • Poor Grammar and Spelling Errors: Many phishing emails contain noticeable grammatical mistakes or awkward phrasing, which can be a red flag. Professional organizations typically proofread their communications.
  • Unsolicited Attachments: Be wary of unexpected email attachments, especially if they prompt you to enable macros or contain executable files, as they may install malware on your device.
  • Mismatched URLs: Ensure that the URL in the email matches the legitimate website’s address. Phishers often use URLs with slight misspellings or additional words to deceive users.

With these tips, you’ll spot heaps more phishing emails and boost your security.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from MakeUseOf.com SOURCE

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Common Cybersecurity Terms That Are Often Confused

The jargon around cybersecurity is cryptic and confusing, which is exactly what criminals want. But understanding these terms can help you keep safe.

The cyberspace is filled with terms that either look the same, sound the same, or mean the same (but are not identical).

Knowing the difference between these similar terms can be tricky, especially when you’ve to keep up with all the common terminologies and principles used in the security domain. Add to it the constant innovation and change happening within cybersecurity, and you’ve got a whole set of complex terms that you need to understand and constantly learn about.

So, here are some similar security terms that are often confused and misused.

Security vs. Privacy

Online security and privacy go hand-in-hand. They are used interchangeably during discussions because they sometimes overlap in today’s connected world.

But there are some key differences between the terms when used in the cybersecurity context.

  • Security: Security refers to the protection of your personal information from malicious threats. It can include any information that can be used to determine your identity.
  • Privacy: Privacy refers to the rights or control you have on your information and the way it’s used.

While security is concerned with preventing unauthorized access to data, privacy focuses on ensuring that personal information is collected, processed, and transmitted compliantly and with the owner’s consent. In simple terms, security protects your data while privacy protects your identity.

To achieve security and privacy, organizations use tools and techniques such as firewalls, encryption protocols, network limitations, and different authentication and authorization techniques.

Authentication vs. Authorization

Authentication and authorization are similar-sounding security concepts within the scope of user identity and access management. Here’s how the two differ.

  • Authentication: User authentication is the process of verifying that users are who they claim to be. It relates to identifying users’ identity.
  • Authorization: Authorization is an act of establishing a user’s rights and privileges. It verifies what specific files, applications, and resources a user has access to.

Authentication is achieved using passwords, PINs, fingerprints, facial recognition, or other forms of biometric information. It’s visible and can be partially changed by the user.

Authorization, on the other hand, works through access management settings implemented and maintained by an organization. They aren’t visible and can’t be changed by the end user.

In a secure environment, authorization always takes place after user authentication. Once a user is verified, they can access different resources based on the permissions set by the organization.

Data Breach vs. Identity Theft

It’s easy to get confused between a data breach and identity theft, as the two are closely connected. The threat for users and the outcome is the same either way; that is, sensitive information is compromised. But there are some differences.

  • Data Breach: A data breach refers to a security incident where confidential data is accessed without authorization of the owner.
  • Identity Theft: When a cybercriminal uses your personal information, such as ID or social security number, without your permission, it constitutes an identity theft.

A data breach occurs when a cybercriminal hacks into a system you’ve entrusted with your information or a company that has your personal information anyway. Once a breach occurs, criminals can use your private information to open an account or commit financial fraud in your name.

The main difference between a data breach and theft is in terms of the damage caused by the incidents. The implications of a breach are usually far more damning compared to an identity theft. According to a report by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, 60 percent of small businesses don’t survive a breach.

However, the damages caused by identity theft can be highly consequential too. The impact of misusing identity go beyond forged checks, fake credit cards, and insurance frauds, and can even endanger national security.

Encryption vs. Encoding vs. Hashing

Encryption, encoding, and hashing are data security terms often used interchangeably and incorrectly. There’s a lot of difference between these terms and it’s important to know these differences.

  • Encryption: It’s a process used to convert readable data, also called plain text, into unreadable data, called cipher text. The data can only be decrypted back to plain text using the appropriate encryption key.
  • Encoding: Encoding is a process in which data is changed from one format to another using an algorithm. The aim is to transform data into a form that is readable by most of the systems.
  • Hashing: Hashing is an irreversible cryptographic process used to convert input data of any length into a fixed size string of text using a mathematical function.

This means that any text can be converted into an array of letters and numbers through an algorithm. The data to be hashed is called input, the algorithm used in the process is called a hash function, and the result is a hash value.

Encryption, encoding, and hashing differ in terms of functionality and purpose. While encryption is meant to ensure confidentiality, encoding focuses on data usability. Hashing, on the other hand, ensures authenticity by verifying that a piece of data hasn’t been altered.

VPN vs. Proxy

VPNs and proxies are both used to change your online location and stay private. They have some overlap, but the differences are quite apparent.

  • VPN: A VPN, short for Virtual Private Network, is a discrete program that changes your geo-location and reroutes your entire internet traffic through servers run by the VPN provider.
  • Proxy: A proxy server is a browser extension that changes your IP address to unblock geo-restricted web pages, but doesn’t offer the extra protection of a VPN.

The main difference between a proxy and VPN is that a proxy server only changes your IP address and doesn’t encrypt your web activities. Secondly, unlike a VPN, a proxy only redirects traffic within the browser. Data from other applications connected to the internet won’t be routed through the proxy.

Spam vs. Phishing vs. Spoofing

Spam, phishing, and spoofing are social engineering tactics used to lure users into revealing personal information.

  • Spam: Spam is any unwanted junk emails, instant messages, or social media messages sent out to a wholesale recipient list. Spam is usually sent for commercial purposes and can be damaging if you open or respond to it.
  • Phishing: Phishing is an unsolicited email designed to harm users by obtaining personal information like usernames, passwords, and even bank details. A phishing email looks like it comes from a legitimate source, but is intended to trick users into clicking on a link containing malware.
  • Spoofing: Spoofing is a subset of phishing attacks in which the attacker impersonates an individual or organization with the intent to gain personal and business information.

Phishing aims to gain personal information by convincing users to provide it directly while spoofing disguises an identity to steal information. The two are closely paired as both involve a level of misrepresentation and masquerading.

Better Understanding, Better Protection

Cybersecurity terminologies and concepts evolve almost as rapidly as memes on the internet. A lot of these terms sound similar but mean something different when you dig a little deeper.

Learning the key terms and their differences will help you better understand and effectively communicate your cybersecurity needs.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from makeuseof.com SOURCE

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