Now that you know what phishing is (as discussed in a previous blog here), it’s time that you learn some tips on avoiding a phishing scam from hurting your business. The average office worker sends and receives around 121 emails every day. And while that sounds like a lot, what’s more shocking is that 3 billion phishing emails get sent each day. They account for 1% of all email traffic. They’re trying to get you to click on a bad link. Your team will probably each receive several phishing emails every week. So, they must know the warning signs.
Criminals pretend to be the online payment giants because big businesses like PayPal are widely used. It will ask the recipient to update their details or check for unauthorized activity. They worry that someone may have breached their account can cause people to let hackers in. The resulting data breach can be devastating if hackers get into any business account. Phishing emails can look very convincing, but you can spot the fake notifications with a little more observation.
It would be best to educate all your people on the warning signs to look out for.
- First, always check the link they want you to click. Hover your mouse over the link and look at the URL. Does it look suspicious? Is the business name spelled correctly?
- Check the address the email has been sent from. Does it look like a standard email address from the business? Or does it seem a little strange?
- Look closely at the content of the email too. Emails from scammers will likely contain grammatical mistakes. They might not address you by name, and the layout may look slightly different from a genuine email from that company.
- Trust your gut feel. You might feel it’s not quite right but cannot say why. Don’t ignore that nagging feeling. If you’re ever unsure, go to your browser and type in the real website address, then log into your account that way.
How protected do you think your business is? Are you certain all members of your team would spot a scam before clicking a link?
Wahaya IT would love to help you review your data security and cyber-crime awareness training. Get in touch.
Published with permission from Your Tech Updates.
