What is phishing? Email
Written by Colorado Green NOW   
Tuesday, October 26, 2021 02:00 AM

Colorado Green Now

Phishing occurs when an email is sent from a cybercriminal in an attempt to learn sensitive information about a person or company. Phishing emails may invite the recipient to pay an invoice, confirm personal information, or complete a sign-up or registration.

Have you ever received an email that said you won a contest or received a reward from a company? That could be a phishing email designed to collect your name, address, date of birth, or other valuable data. Scammers often send these emails to a list of email addresses, casting a wide net in the hopes of getting a few responses.

If the email comes from what appears to be a trusted source, it could be spear phishing. Spear phishing is targeted to an individual and can involve email spoofing. For example, the email may appear to come from a trusted colleague or vendor, asking them to confirm their password or update their information. They will ask the recipient to reply to the email or follow a link to a form.

Links in these emails may also contain malware that allows the scammer to commit more serious harm by compromising the recipient’s email account or calendar. This lets the scammer continue to collect more data by using the victim’s information for more phishing attempts.

You can protect yourself from phishing scams by never sharing passwords via email, for any reason. If you aren’t expecting a business entity to contact you for information, check the email closely. Rather than click on a link in an email to pay an invoice or update information, either call the company (at the number you have on file—not the number in the suspicious email) or log into your account on their website.

It may seem inconvenient to take the extra step of calling or logging into the website in a new browser tab (not via an email link). But the extra seconds it takes to do so could protect you from serious consequences if you are a victim of phishing.

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