Phishing scams use email or other methods to trick people into revealing personal information for financial gain or identity theft. Phishing protection involves being aware of the various ways attacks can occur, checking for secure sites, avoiding suspicious emails, using anti-virus software, and reporting attempts to the relevant organizations.
In phishing scams, the scammer uses a lure or lure, often in the form of email, but possibly in other ways, to try to “catch” a gullible person into revealing personal information. The information requested is often a username and password, credit card number or social security number, and the intent is usually for financial gain or identity theft. Phishing protection refers to the steps you can take to protect yourself from phishing scams.
Phishing protection includes being aware of the ways a phishing attack can be launched. In addition to email, phishing can be attempted in a text message, social networking post, website link, chat room, bulletin board, and hoaxes in the form of banner ads, job search sites and browser toolbars. It’s also important to be aware of what’s in the browser’s address field on two fronts. One is to check https:// rather than http:// when using a secure site. The other is to check the favicon if you use the Firefox® browser: the favicon on secure sites is large and green as a sign that the site has a valid SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate, and this occurs by clicking on the favicon . Additionally, both Firefox® and Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 8 browsers are programmed to warn users of potentially dangerous Web sites and use a padlock symbol to denote safe sites.
Phishing protection also includes strategies for dealing with suspicious emails. You should never send personal information through unsecured email, and no honest company will ever ask for information in this way. Also, you should not click email links or fill out email forms as a general rule, especially when an email contains an implied or explicit threat about what will happen if you don’t provide the information. After you receive a suspicious email that appears to be from a company, it’s a good idea to read carefully for typos, spelling errors, and non-standard usages, any of which can alert you to a phishing scam and contact the alleged sender by telephone to verify its validity. Keep in mind that spear phishing can use the name of a colleague or trusted person within an organization, so don’t rely on the “From” indication to determine if an email is safe.
Spam protection and anti-virus and anti-malware software are also useful approaches to phishing protection. A firewall on your computer and/or router is also useful. Finally, reporting phishing attempts to the impersonated organization and your ISP (Internet Service Provider) is a good way to prevent future phishing attacks.
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