How Can I Identify A Phishing Attack?

Did you get an email from a public email domain like Yahoo or Gmail?

Is the domain name misspelled?

Does the email have many grammatical mistakes?

Does the email have any downloads or links?

Does the message sound urgent?

Does the email ask for any personal information like your address, date of birth, etc?

People who send official communication will never send from their Gmail, Yahoo, or any other IDs from a public domain. So, if you get an email from [email protected] or [email protected], you should be wary. Even employees from google will have [email protected]. So, when you get an email from a public email domain, never open unless you know the person well.

Many cyber attackers make the most of the efficiency of the human brain to make quick money. Most times, our brains don't read the entire word. Rather, it scans the word and takes the one out of memory to speed up the reading process. As a result, a misspelled domain is often overlooked by our brain and we tend to assume that it is from a legitimate source. So, before you open an email from a stranger make sure you check the domain name twice for any misspelled words and don't open or click if the spelling doesn't seem right.

You have received a spam email if it is poorly written and has many grammatical mistakes. Now you may wonder why would a hacker make such an obvious mistake when there are so many online tools available to correct spellings and grammar. Well, the idea behind this strategy is that only the most desperate will overlook these mistakes, which means, the chances for them to fall for this scam are high. That's why poor grammar is often used as a filtering system by the phishers.

Phishing emails always come with a link or a file that you'll be asked to click or download respectively. This is the part that contains the malware that can infect your system or can entice you to share personal details. As a rule of thumb, avoid clicking any links or downloading any files from unknown emails.

All phishing emails come with a sense of urgency that ask you to click the link right away or do some action immediately. The rationale behind this urgency is that the more you think about something, you'll notice the discrepancy, and the chances for you to do a specific action goes down greatly. Scammers rely on impulse and this is why there is always a sense of urgency in the message.

Legitimate emails will never ask you to send these details over email. A more secure communication will be used to collect this information from you.

Some phishing emails are not so obvious. Look for other aspects and never click or download anything on an impulse.