Learn to Spot Phishing Emails

By John Mamon | August 9, 2021

Learn to Spot Phishing Email | Good Email Hygiene 

Avoid the spread of ransomware by learning to avoid malicious emails. Most phishing attacks can be stopped with a little diligence and awareness. Don’t let one bad click bring down your company!

Can you spot…

…use of a trusted name?

…an almost legitimate sender address?

…a generic greeting?

…attempts to create urgency?

…a suspicious attachment?

…a malicious link?

…generally unprofessional look and feel?

Train for phishing awareness

WATCH FOR GENERIC CONTENT AND GREETINGS

Greetings like “Dear valued customer” or “Important client” are a bad sign. If you or your company isn’t identified by name at the beginning of the email, be suspicious.

NOTICE MISSPELLINGS, INCORRECT GRAMMAR, & ODD PHRASING

Phishing emails from other countries (which is the majority of them) often contain poor grammar and misspelled words.

URGENCY IS THEIR MOST POWERFUL TOOL

Scammers have known this for ages: if you make someone panic or hurry, it’s much easier to make them slip up.

MANUALLY CHECK ALL LINKS

Mouse over every link to check the URL you’ll be sent to. If you don’t know for sure that it’s safe, don’t take the chance.

EXAMINE THE SENDER’S EMAIL ADDRESS

Scammers use email addresses that look almost like legitimate email servers. Be wary of addresses like “@microsoft.custsupport.com” or “@ups-service.com”

ONLY INPUT DATA ON SECURE WEBSITES

Any webpage where you enter personal information should have a url beginning with https://.

For ways to protect your small business, call mPowered IT at 678-389-6200 or visit mpoweredit.com.

Posted in Cybersecurity