How to protect your property from phishing attacks

Phishing is a cybercrime in which fraudsters try to lure your sensitive information, such as personal data, passwords, or even banking and credit card details, by disguising themselves as a trustworthy source. Use tips below to avoid scams and learn what to do if you think that your personal information has been compromised.

 How to Recognize Phishing?

Fraudsters are constantly changing and improving their tactics, but there are some indicators that can help you recognize a phishing email easily. Phishing emails may give the impression that they have been sent by companies or individuals you know. These emails often encourage users to open a malware-containing attachment.

There are some signs that can help you to identify phishing emails and text messages: 

• The sender’s email address is incorrectly spelled or written with odd or ‘broken’ language.
• The email looks different from the other emails that you’ve received from the company.
• The email which they have used to contact you is different from the one that you provided to that company.
• The email requests personal information (credit card number, account password etc).
• The email contains an attachment.
• The email contains a call for immediate action, such as asking you to click immediately on a link or send your sensitive information.

Phishing email may include next information or attachment:

• claims that you have a problem with your account; 
• contains information that there are some suspicious activity;
• reports a log-in attempt; 
• includes a fake invoice;
• invites you to click on a link to make a payment;
• offers to confirm personal information;
• claims that you’re eligible to register for a government refund;
• offers you a coupon for free stuff.

How to avoid phishing and other scams

Most email providers classify such emails as spam so do not move them into your inbox. But fraudsters always try to outthink spam filters, so it’s better to use following advices that can help you to protect yourself and your organization:

• Don’t open suspicious emails. If it looks like a phishing communication don’t respond and delete this email. 
• Don’t click on links and don’t open any attachments in suspicious emails. 
• Don’t send any financial information through email. Trusted organisation will never ask you to provide them with bank account details, passwords or any other sensitive information via email.
• Use spam filters which can help you to block emails from illegitimate sources.
• Sign up for antivirus protection. Use an up-to-date antivirus software on your computer and on your smartphone. 
• In case of any doubts contact your security officer to make sure that your data is safe.

How to recover after responding to a phishing email

Here are some steps you can take if you’ve responded to a phishing scam to help protect yourself against identity theft:

• Go to IdentityTheft.gov if you think that your personal information is stolen. This website will guide you through the recovery process.
• If you have clicked on a suspicious link or opened a suspicious attachment that has downloaded harmful software, update your computer’s security software and then run a scan.

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