If you are not familiar with the phenomenon “Phishing” you really should continue reading this article, even if you are already familiar with the concept or have been the victim of Phishing you will without a doubt be able to learn more.
Phishing is a type of online fraud where people or organizations seek to defraud personal information such as, names, login information, passwords, credit card details etc. The most common way of been tricked is to receive a mail, text, or message from social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc.
The message typically urges the user to confirm personal information, but instead of actually updating the information, the information is redirected to a third party. Now they have access to confidential information, which they seek to monetize. In most cases, messages will appear as an official message from your bank, office, or other source you would normally trust.
At this stage, it is unknown how many users Phishing afflicts, as it is often hard to detect and remove. The security Industry as a whole labels Phishing as one of the most dangerous types of malware. It is estimate that 30% of all Phishing-related messages are opened by users and in about 12% of the cases, users click on potentially dangerous content.
What can I do to stay safe online?
When it comes to online security as a whole, it is essential that you are especially keen on, what type of content you click, open and respond. This is not only the case when browsing online, but also regarding to e-mails, chat messages, texts etc. Stay extra vigilant when any sites asks for personal information, access to passwords etc. We have gathered three essential ways of increasing your personal security online.
Nothing is for free!
The web is filled with a wide range of competitions, special offers and prizes, “all” you need to do is type your personal information, and then you are good to go. It sounds too good to be true, and in many cases it is! If you want to participate in these type of activities, you should be extra careful with what type of information you provide.
The Official Mail
You already know it all too well. You receive an e-mail with the title “Invoice” “CV” or an “Urgent Message” from the administration. They all have the exact same purpose, to make you open and respond to the malicious link inside. Unless you are 100% certain that this mail or message can be trusted, we strongly advise you to delete the mail without opening it. If you are wondering if the message actually could be trusted, you can always send a mail to verify its authenticity.
We also advise you to, at regular intervals to empty your deleted/spam folder for old unwanted mails.
Social Media and invitations
Be vigilant when it comes to people wanting to be a part of your personal network through invitations from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. In many cases, an unknown user would like to add you to their connections/friends-list, and you receive a message asking to confirm the connection. Should you choose to accept, you could re-directed to a false sign-up site, asking for your login information. Should you provide this information, and the message is spam, the user now has your information. In other cases, new connections can spam your profile with unwanted messages.
We strongly advise you to only accept invitations from people whom you know, or trust. We also advise you to change your passwords at regular intervals.
It is almost impossible to know if you have been the victim of a Phishing attack, which is why we always advise user to have an uptodated antispywareprogram installed, which can monitor your computer, and warn of possible Phishing attempts.
Anti Explorator is specifically designed to locate, identify and eliminate possible threats in case of a Phishing attack. You can download and try Anti Explorator free here.