When it comes to phishing attacks, the first decoy that often comes up is an email with compelling content. Therefore, it is very important to have enough anti-phishing knowledge, both at home and at the office.
6 signs of a phishing attack at the office
1- Email comes from non-business domain name
You will likely receive countless emails from different professionals at the office. Real professionals will have an email domain.
People who work in businesses don’t use Gmail as their email. However, if you see an unfamiliar email, you should handle it with caution. Anyway, Gmail is still the most popular service used for phishing emails.
But, sophisticated cybercriminals already know this. So, to avoid detection, they will imitate the domain name of the organization they pretend to be.
This just happened to Microsoft last year. The hacker engaged in a phishing campaign, using the original sender’s email address, the sender’s address containing usernames and domains as well as display names that mimic legitimate services to try and bypass legitimate services. through email filters.
If you are in doubt about the sender of the email, you can double check by searching for the company name on Google, and you should be able to find the appropriate email addresses.
2- You are not proactive
If you are a recipient of marketing emails that you have not signed up for, you are likely to be the target of phishing scams.
If you do a Google search and don’t find any contact emails, you can always contact the sender by phone just to be on the safe side.
3- Fake company domain name
Spelling and grammatical errors are some of the most common signs that you’ve received a phishing email. This is especially true for domain names.
Phishing emails often send you to a fake domain name with the aim of stealing your sensitive information.
For the best effect, the scammer must copy the web domain of the organization they are spoofing.
Since the domain they’re trying to clone is already taken, they need to create a fake domain name and so minor changes will be made to the URL. Usually, very similar characters will be used to make the user unsuspecting.
Let’s take Google as an example. Instead of https://www.google.com/ you will see: https://www.go0gle.com/. If you look closely, you can easily spot it, right?
What about: https://www.googIe.com/? I replaced the lowercase L with a capital I and most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in the search bar.
For maximum security, invest in reliable anti-phishing software. Better yet, it can protect your email, and your cloud applications.
4- Strange attachments
Scammers love to send malicious attachments in emails, so if you see file formats like .EXE or .SCR, then you should think twice and double check the source before opening.
As more and more people are trapped, cybercriminals are also developing techniques and embedding malware in PDFs.
5- Email from a colleague you know
We have all been warned about receiving emails from unknown senders. However, it’s also possible that your friends, family members, and co-workers have email attacks and phishing emails sent to their email friends list.
If an email you receive from a known person has a different tone than usual, contains random links, strange files, a blurred document with a link to view or take some action, be sure to contact Contact them and make sure they are not hacked.
6- The director makes strange requests
Some cybercriminals have moved from sending mass emails to targeting specific employees by posing as the CEO of the company. These emails are carefully curated, asking recipients to perform specific tasks.
These emails are sent in the hope that employees won’t wonder about the odd request because it’s coming from someone on the management team or even the CEO.
If you’re asked to pay a bill or submit personal information, contact the person to make sure the email was written by them.
Develop an anti-fraud strategy at the office
Staying ahead of tech-savvy cybercriminals is no easy task, especially if you’re not an IT expert. However, making sure that both you and your co-workers are informed about these attacks is a great start to an effective anti-phishing strategy.
But it only takes one mistake of an employee and the business is likely to collapse. That’s why it’s imperative to invest in effective anti-phishing software.