Black Hats sends mail to you which are fitted with malware, ransomware, spyware, and fake apps that are called Trojan Horses. As soon as you click on them, you become prey to the trap laid by the cybercriminals. These links take you to unsafe websites planted with download links that are bundled with malware and viruses. When you click these links to download or activate them, malware and viruses attached to these links also enter your computer and internet devices.
Once these malicious programs infiltrate your computer, they start modifying the operating system. After this, your PC behaves in an abnormal way and starts communicating the stored information to people who are working from the outside.
How to Recognize Phishing?
Black hats use a variety of methods and online channels to launch powerful phishing attacks. In such situations, it is not easy to recognize what is right and what is false. All the more, they launch thousands of attacks every day to confuse the target and overwhelm them to take harmful steps. Bombarded with such a huge number of phishing attacks, it becomes far more difficult to protect yourself from these attacks. So, how can we protect ourselves from these online attackers? If you are also looking for a solution to deal with phishing attacks, then stop all your worries. You can easily outsmart cybercriminals by following these safety measures to avoid phishing attacks.
Check for the Suspicious URLs
Whenever you receive URLs from any unknown platform or unsafe site, make sure to check it thoroughly. If these links are misspelled or have unusual domain names, then they may be from cybercriminals.
Content With the Urgent Situation
Phishing links and messages are often encoded with content that is demanding and creates an urgent situation for the users. If you find such content in the transmissions that you are receiving from unsafe and suspicious sites, avoid responding to them instantly.
Unexpected Emails or Messages
Black hats use messages and emails to trick users into exposing their sensitive information. You will get unexpected messages and emails tampered with the suspicious links. These messages and emails will ask you to grant some permission and request the information. You should never grant information to such instant transmissions from the black hats. Such transmissions are considered potential threats that may land you in trouble.
Generic Greetings
If you are receiving emails, messages, and AI calls with general greetings such as dear sir, applicant, or user, then you should inspect them a little bit. Online attackers use such greetings because they do not know about you. When you talk to them or agree to proceed with the fake operation they run, they ask you for your full name, email address, DOB, and house address where you live. By and by, they get all the information about you. When they know everything about you they use this information to spam and commit financial fraud with you. Thus, it is highly recommended that you take notice of such fraudulent communications and deny them the information they are asking for.
Grammatical Errors and Spelling Mistakes
Fake emails and content are often written by those who are not experts in those fields for the sole purpose of laying the trap for the users. So, the content they write will have lots of grammatical and spelling mistakes in it. Hence, whenever you come across such mistakes in emails and messages, you should be careful about such links. In this situation, you should contact the organization directly and confirm the emails and information you have received. If it does not match in any sense, then avoid it. Check the sender details, and in case of any fraud, report it as spam.
Requesting For Sensitive Information
The fraudulent emails and messages often ask for information such as credit card numbers, bank details, social security numbers, and passwords to protect these accounts. These requests are from nowhere but from fraudsters. Instantly reject this information when you see such requests and messages.
What Are The Different Types Of Phishing Attacks?
Phishing attacks are of different types. Each one uses a different strategy and methodology to target a victim and scam the users. Black hats use new types of attacks to trick users and steal valuable information from them. Here are some common examples cybercriminals use to exploit an individual to steal valuable information from them.
Deceptive Phishing
This is one of the most common types of phishing attacks cybercriminals use to target users. In this type of attack, users receive emails, or text messages, attached to the malicious links. These emails look legitimate and come from authentic resources such as banks, colleges, government authorities, or trusted establishments. When the recipient clicks the links inside the emails he gets tricked and ends up revealing sensitive information.
Spear Phishing
This is a more precise form of phishing attack in which black hats collect all the information about the target. They use this information to convince the victim that they are from an authorized agency. When the users are convinced they use this situation to get all the information from the victim. They would ask for bank details, credit card details, and other critical information.
Whale Phishing
Whale phishing is very much similar to spear phishing. Cybercriminals collect all the important information about the victim. But this time targets are high-profile individuals who are CEOs, managers, and directors of reputed organizations. Criminals attack these high-ranking professionals to steal sensitive information to access the critical system in the organization. These attacks target confidential business data, intellectual property, and company key financial accounts.
Pharming
Pharming attacks work by redirecting users to malicious or spoofed websites from legitimate websites without their knowledge. Black hats poison a user’s DNS cache of a server on a local computer. Due to this manipulation when a person enters and types a URL into the search window of the browser, it does not take him to the right site. Instead, it redirects him to the spoofed site that mimics the original website. When the user sees the resulting page he takes it to be real and enters his login credentials to it. As soon as he enters a user ID and password online criminals grab the information controlling all the operations from the other sites.
Smishing
Smishing attacks cybercriminals use SMS instead of emails. In this process, recipients receive legitimate-looking SMS with website links and phone numbers. The text contains an urgent situation that requires an immediate response from the recipient otherwise it will lead to a big loss. Afraid of unfolding bad events victims respond to the call desperately and become prey to the criminals. When they click the link it redirects them to the malicious sites that look legitimate in form and structure. When victims enter a user’s ID and Password to access the main dashboard black hats grab all the information.
Google Applications
Cybercriminals often send security alerts in the form of emails and notifications to the victim to make him believe that his Google accounts such as Google Docs, Gmail, and Drive have been breached. They attach a response link along with the alerting text to click immediately to stop all the mishaps down the line. But in reality, this is the link that is intended to breach all Google accounts. Clicking these links leads the victim to the malicious sites that manipulate him to reveal all the sensitive details such as login ID and passwords. Desperate users take hasty steps to stop the disaster simply to speed up the process for the same thing.
Fake Invoices
Cyberpunks use fake invoices to trick users into paying for goods and services that they never ordered. The invoices offer high-value goods and services in return for low payment making users take immediate action to collect the reward. But these are fake invoices fraudsters use to scam ordinary people and steal their hard-earned money. The attached invoice in the emails is also bundled with the malicious software that infiltrates the device as soon as clicked open by the victim. These malware and viruses wreak havoc on the device and steal all the important data stored in the system. Also, they can enter into the device network when devices connect to the internet and use web browsers to search for information. So, it creates a whole chain of online security crises.
How to Prevent Phishing Attacks?
Use Antivirus Software
Using antivirus software on your computer is one of the best methods to recognize phishing attacks. Its real-time protection and feature will block and identify all the suspicious links that you are receiving from malicious sites. It will monitor your device and all the running programs in it round the clock to detect and eliminate potential malware threats before they cause any harm to the device or data in it.
Follow Email Security Regulations
You must follow the email security protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to stay protected from phishing attacks. These protocols help verify the authenticity of email senders and make sure that no alterations are made in between when emails are on the way from one device to another receiver. These protocols disable attackers from mimicking legitimate domains to approach you and scam you. As a result, you will receive emails only from authorized servicers and those that have not been tampered with during the transit.
Inspect Emails
Do not open emails coming from unknown senders directly in your inbox. Instead, check the emails first before you open them in your inbox. Check the headers and names of the senders and email addresses. If they are overly worded then know that these are from unsafe entities. Do some online research about these senders and confirm their authenticity. If you find anything suspicious do not open the mail on your PC. Instead, block it and report it to the concerned authority.
Use Browser Isolation Service
Using a browser isolation service is another important thing one must use to protect oneself from phishing attacks. It is a cybersecurity tool that protects users from online threats. It works by isolating and executing browser activities in a secure environment. This service is capable of keeping harmful web content away from the user’s device. With the help of this amazing online security tool, you can mitigate the risk of malware infections and cyberattacks.
Don`t Reveal Sensitive Information
Cybercriminals use every course of action to gain all the personal details about you. They use social engineering attacks, emails, and tampered links to gain all the personal information about you. They use this information to get all the sensitive information from the victim. Mostly cybercriminals try to get Social Security numbers, bank information, passwords, and main access points of the users. So, it is highly important that you do not reveal any sensitive information to the cybercriminals.
Block Spam
Cybercriminals use emails as the best channel to infiltrate a system and manipulate internal settings to fraud people. Hence, it is highly recommended to use a robust spam filter to block spam emails carrying phishing links. It will help users to deal with different types of phishing attacks. In addition to this, you must block and report spam emails as soon as you receive any such mail from anywhere. Do not open and click on attachments such as links, PDF files, and codes in the mail directly. You should keep all your emails secret, and unsubscribe from the mailing lists of unnecessary services.
Verify the SMS Sender
Black Hats uses SMS to fraud users in smishing attacks. They attach harmful links and phone numbers in the text message. So, it is highly essential that when you receive any such message from a suspicious sender you should verify the SMS sender first. You should drop a message or make a call to the sender and confirm all the details. When you know that the SMS is from a true source then you should proceed with further process. Before this doubt everything and trust nothing. To make an informed decision you must have authentic information about the SMS sender.
Visit Sites with Safe URLs
URLs having HTTPS are safe and encrypted. ‘S’ in the HTTPS stands for secure. That means it is from a safe website, and all the data related to this link is fully secure and encrypted. If the S is missing in the HTTP, then know that it is not from an authorized source. In this situation, you should hover your mouse over the link. It will show you the actual URL that will help you identify what site it is carrying you. Unsafe websites are often planted with malicious codes and viruses. When you navigate these sites using your device network this malware will enter your device system and steal all your confidential data. So, make sure you visit only secure websites that follow proper security protocols.
