Phishing is a type of fraud that involves sending emails to users while falsely claiming to be a legitimate institute/organization in an attempt to scam the users to surrendering their private information that will be used for identity theft.
Fraudsters send emails or set up fake web sites that mimic genuine websites' sign-in pages to trick users into disclosing their user names and passwords. Phishing comes from the word fishing, which involves using lures to catch fish.
Phishing is the simplest way to trick someone into clicking malicious links than trying to break through a computer’s security. Cybercriminals employ professional marketers to identify the most effectivemessages that get the highest "open" or “click through” rate.
Phishing takes place most often during major events, holidays. Sometimes, the fraudsters take advantage of breaking news stories, both true and fictitious.
Phishing emails are blindly sent to thousands of recipients. This was, the "phisher" counts on the email being read by a percentage of people are high.
Things that can help you identify a phishing spam e-mail:
- Incorrect Grammar and Spellings
- Lot of Links in a single email
- Mails with subject lines like: ‘Urgent action required’, ‘You have won a lottery’, ‘Too-good-to-be-true Job Offers’, Fake Pharmaceuticals etc.
- Spoofing popular websites or companies
- Threats
Logos and other identifying information istaken directly from that company’s website to make phishing emails look genuine. The malicious links within the body of the message are designed to make it appear that they go to the spoofed organization. Some phishing scams use JavaScript to place a picture of a legitimate URL over a browser’s address bar. The URL revealed by hovering over an embedded link can also be changed by using JavaScript.
If you receive a fake phone call, take down the caller's information and report it to your local authorities. The use of subdomains and misspelled URLs are common tricks, as is homograph spoofing -- URLs created using different logical characters to read exactly like a trusted domain. Browsers like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome have plug-ins that can help you detect phishing sites.
Tips to avoid being a victim of Phishing:
- Do not open suspected e-mail
- Do not download suspected attachments
- Do not share credentials like user ID, password and other personal details if you suspect fraud
- Check the Web address
- Be aware of pop-ups
- Ensure that your web browser has an anti-phishing detection
- Always double check to ensure that the website is legitimate
- Add suspected e-mail to SPAM folder to prevent those e-mails in the future
- Report the genuine authority about the spam email that you receive
Like they say, it is always better to be safe than sorry. While the internet is a boon, ensure that you are aware of the illegitimate elements who are trying to misuse your personal data. A little vigilance goes a long way to ensure that you have a safe online existence.
At Pegasus InfoCorp , we believe that by understanding the tools and technologies phishers have in their charge, we can educate ourselves and combat against future attacks. By applying a multi-tiered approach to the security model, any organization can easily manage its protection technology against upcoming threats. Pegasus InfoCorp’s unique visibility to the fraud life cycle enables organizations to reduce the fraud risk from the online channels and eliminate the overhead of forensic investigations and recovery of funds.
|
