IT Security Tip #6: How to spot a phishing e-mail

How To Not Get Caught In A Phishing Trap

A phishing e-mail is a bogus e-mail that is carefully designed to look like a legitimate request (or attached file) from a site you trust
in an effort to get you to willingly give up your login information to a particular website or to click and download a virus.

Often these e-mails look 100% legitimate and show up in the form of a PDF (scanned document) or a UPS or FedEx tracking number, Facebook alert, bank notification, etc.

That’s what makes these so dangerous – they LOOK exactly like a legitimate e-mail. So how can you tell a phishing e-mail from a legitimate one?

Here are a few telltale signs…

First, hover over the URL in the e-mail (but DON’T CLICK!) to see the ACTUAL website you’ll be directed to.

If there’s a mismatched or suspicious URL, delete the e-mail immediately.

In fact, it’s a good practice to just go to the site direct (typing it into your browser) rather than clicking on the link to get to a particular site.

Another telltale sign is poor grammar and spelling errors.

Another warning sign is that the e-mail is asking you to “verify” or “validate” your login or asking for personal information.

Why would your bank need you to verify your account number? They should already have that information.

And finally, if the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Credits:

Video Design and Editing by Andrea Kalli – Video Editing Services
Voiceover provided by David Beroff of Awesome American Audio

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