What’s in your wallet?

This is Cyber Security Month, a very appropriate time to revisit one of the most common threats we see in our digital business: phishing.  

Phishing is defined as “a scam by which an internet user is duped (as by a deceptive e-mail message) into revealing personal or confidential information which the scammer can use illicitly.” By using the ‘bait’ of an e-mail that appears official, users can be easily tricked into giving out a variety of personal or business information including, but not limited to: credit card information, passwords, and more.

It seems like scams are getting harder to spot, but there are some obvious giveaways.

As a web designer, I literally get one or two calls every month from business clients; the bad guys are good at tricking people, and they know how to get someone’s attention.   Phishing has been around for a while and we’ve all heard warnings about it in the media, but over the past year it seems the bad guys have been busier than ever.  

How it works.  An email arrives in your inbox.   It looks official.   It might be the name of the website hosting company, or it might be the name of the domain host where your business website’s domain is registered. 

It has the company logo, and the email looks like every other email you’ve received from this company.  Maybe you’re just not sure if this is where your site is registered – but the point is it looks official.

Fear – or a sense of urgency - is a common denominator.  What really gets your attention is the subject line, telling you the website renewal is past due, and facing cancellation. Or the mail is a very real-looking invoice for the domain that is about to expire (“That’s funny, I thought I just paid that” you say to yourself); these messages have a sense of urgency while offering one last chance to save your sinking ship: “click here to renew” or “submit payment today.” 

Phishing scammers bank on human nature.  When faced with losing something so critical as your business website, it’s only human to have a knee-jerk reaction.   Instinctively, we want to click on that payment link or fill out that form.  Don’t do it without verification!

There’s an obvious giveaway you received a fake email: look at the sender’s address.    If the e-mail was indeed real, often the company’s email will be a no reply from a Customer Service address.

A legitimate business email message will not ask you to click on a link – another indication you’re being phished. Instead, they will ask you to log into your account on the internet, not from an email!

What you can do to fight phishing.

Once you are sure the e-mail you’ve received is a scam, you should report the email to the company in question, your email provider, and finally, a government body. The Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency, a government agency, asks that you forward the e-mail to phishing-report@us-cert.gov.  Another great place to report phishing e-mails is by forwarding them to reportphishing@apwg.org  - an address used by the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

As for reporting phishing scams to the alleged company that sent them, most companies and government agencies have specific ways to report these threats. A simple online search with the company’s name and the terms ‘report phishing’ should point you in the proper direction.

One of the last things that you can do is to mark the email as spam/junk, and then delete the e-mail. Marking it as spam will prevent that particular address from contacting you again and will allow you to sleep with some peace of mind.

Words to remember…

When receiving e-mails that cause unwarranted panic, the most important thing to remember is when in doubt, never click on anything! The best way to practice cyber security is by playing it safe and reading e-mails carefully.

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AMS Digital specializes in video productions as well as other digital services for businesses looking at widening their online presence. You can learn more about us here. To discuss a project you have in mind or explore options that can help your business/organization thrive, email us or give us a call.

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