Protect your Business with a Human Firewall September 13, 2021 – Posted in: Cyber Security, News – Tags: Cyber Security

Phishing isn’t just a hobby, It’s a Malicious way of life.

Email is the best way to steal your data, (Asides hacking into your system directly). Cyber criminals, unfortunately, won’t stop harassing your data until they’ve got what they came for. Using several methods to gain access, it will always come down to emails that let them into your sensitive and personal systems.

Yes, email has adapted to these personal attacks, creating spam filters and deciding for itself what you want to see and vice versa, but it can’t block everything!

The term phishing, emphasising the connection to fishing,  is a means of hackers masking their malicious emails as genuine to catch out innocent users. Using several clever tricks, the aim will always be to lure you into clicking dangerous links or downloading virus infected attachments. In order to steal, track or simply destroy your personal information.

How is it done?

Masking emails as though they were sent from someone else’s mailbox is troublingly easy to do. Beyond that, (to ensure a greater chance of victory), they may well hack into a business’s mail server or an individual’s mailbox, to send the emails directly as that user.

The email itself, (in most cases), isn’t hazardous. It can simply be checked & then deleted from your inbox endlessly.

If you’ve clicked the link & downloaded the file or opened the attachment, your PC is then uncovered to the ‘hack’ & whatever dodgy software they intended to hit your machine.

What do the emails look like exactly?

You’ll receive it just like any usual email, the tricky part is recognising if it’s real or fake. It’ll be among all your other genuine emails. It’ll likely appear as though it’s from the sender’s name and match their correct email address. So, at first glance, you’ll be none the wiser.

If the email is disguised as though it is from a government department, it may well contain badly written language, poor quality logos, or requesting information that would normally be sent via the post or submitted via their secure websites.

The email is likely to contain an attachment or a link, which is the lure to draw you toward their means by which they can enter your PC & snip your data. Until you’re sure, don’t click any links.

What should we be wary of?

When you receive any email there are a few key things to check, even if you recognise & trust the sender.

The sender’s name & email address. Is it legitimate? Has it come from their mailbox or does something about the name or email address not look right?

Does the email hold an attachment?

If it is a PDF, there’s a good chance that you’re safe. However if it’s a Word or Excel document, it may be programmed to contain a virus that can take over your machine as soon as you open it & activate any “macros” set to run.

Always question and be wary of Word & Excel documents that you aren’t expecting. Invoices are often a preferred trick of the fraudsters – always ask your suppliers to send their invoices as PDFs, that way you can have a rule to avoid opening anything marked as an invoice that arrives as an Excel or Word document.

The downside is, you cannot tell from looking at the file whether it is genuine or malicious before you open it – then it’s generally too late.

Does the email contain any links?

Links are a little easier to check. Hover over the link and you can see where it goes.

If it’s an email claiming to be from HMRC or your bank, and the link wants to take you to a completely different nonsense website, don’t click on it!

If the link appears to be the actual website or where you would expect to land, like in the example below, then it may well be genuine, but that is no promise.

To conclude

Be cautious, of everything. Even if you believe to know the person that sent you the email.

Follow our simple 3-step check list – sender’s name & email address, attachments and links. Checking these three key things before taking any action with the email will help you remain protected.