Phishing attacks are becoming more and more complex and harder to recognise , although they are still possible to recognise. But first, let’s see what a phishing attack is.
Well , a phishing attack is an email attack where a source tries to persuade another person they are representing the organisation or person even though they are not.
A lot of phishing attacks unfortunately are designed to create a matter of urgency, sometimes even trying to scare the victim into doing something RIGHT NOW. However with these top tips and ways to recognise a phishing attack you can help to stop them being successful.
The "FROM" address
Determining who the email is from is a key way to spot a phishing email or a “scam” because these will usually be from email addresses that don’t belong to the organisation they proport to be from. This may include having a well known email providers addresses when you know the business has a specific email address such as info@example.co.uk. Of course if you suddenly get an email from infoatexample@gmail.com then this would be a good indication that this may not be legitimate and would likely be a phishing email.
The content
The content too can be a massive giveaway , although its becoming harder to spot the content but you still can. Some key questions to think about is
– Do the links seem out of place
– Does it start , dear customer / client / supplier?
– Does anything look “out of place” ?
If so , the advice would be to discard the email or contact the legitimate organisation to check to see if they have sent you an email (they will be able to tell you)
Knowing the organisation or person
Unlike the content of a phishing email , different people and organisations will have different ways of working. Some may contact you via email for a legitimate reason such as a parcel delivery or a marketing campaign , however not many businesses will ask for your bank details for example.
The best advice we will give you is if in doubt do not action anything on any email , where you are unsure it is legitimate. If its legitimate then they may contact you by phone for example if you gave the organisation your email address.
