How can I spot a phish?
Phishing messages tend to have general characteristics that should alert you, including:
- Sense of Urgency - the message conveys a reason why you need to act quickly.
- Forged Link - a link may have a name of a known organization, but not belong to them.
- Requests for Personal Information - the message will attempt to trick you into providing personal information by appearing to be authentic.
- Generic Greetings or Signatures - the message are generally sent to hundreds of people at a time which makes them somewhat generic. Spear Phishing is an exception.
- Errors, Typos, and Inaccurate Names - the messages often include grammatical errors, misspelled words, or other inaccuracies.
What is the difference between Phishing & Spear Phishing?
- Phishing - is an attempt to steal your personal information using a fraudulent email asking for information such as usernames, passwords, social security numbers, birth dates, etc. These emails typically look authentic and contain a link to an official looking website that asks the user to login.
- Spear Phishing - goes further than regular phishing. It targets you specifically as cyber-criminals use information about you, found on public forums like Facebook, and customize the phishing email to you.
Source: Eastern Michigan University, Think before you Click! Avoid phishing attacks!
What is Vishing?
Vishing is voice phishing, a technique used by scammers to gain personal information from someone using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VolP). Read more at Get Cyber Safe.
