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Phishing attacks usually start from digital communications, like emails, private messages on social media platforms, text, or any other type of online communication. These messages often impersonate someone from your business, an external organisation, or even a stranger trying to trick recipients into clicking malicious links or sharing sensitive information like login credentials or banking details. In this article, we’ll explore how to prevent phishing and how to protect your business against phishing.
How to spot phishing attempts
Phishing attempts can come in many forms, often disguised as emails, text messages, or social media communications. Fortunately, there are a few common red flags that can help you identify them.
1. Poor spelling, grammar, and formatting
Many phishing messages contain noticeable errors in spelling and grammar, as well as inconsistent formatting, such as unusual layouts, random use of colours, or mismatched fonts. These visual inconsistencies can often indicate a fraudulent message.
2. Suspicious sender details
Even if the sender’s name appears familiar, like a manager or colleague, always double-check the email address or username. Attackers often use variations of genuine names that include strange characters or numbers, such as joebl0gs1233@gmail.com or j0ebloggs3.
3. A false sense of urgency
Phishing messages frequently try to pressure you into acting quickly. They may claim your account will be blocked, or a payment is overdue, prompting you to “click here immediately” to resolve the issue. This tactic is designed to catch you off guard.
4. Suspicious or misleading links
Hover over any links before clicking. Phishing links often look almost correct, but use slight misspellings or added characters to mimic legitimate websites- for example:
- financaltimes.com instead of ft.com
- mcdonnalds.com instead of mcdonalds.com
Always take a moment to verify the sender, examine the message closely, and never click a link unless you’re confident it’s safe.
Top tips for keeping you and your information safe:
- Keep your systems and software up to date
It may sound simple, but it’s not uncommon for individuals and businesses to overlook updates on their personal and work computers and phones, purely because it can take time out of the day. But these updates to software and systems are vital for keeping up to date with protections against latest viruses and updated filters that can prevent phishing attempts and unwanted attacks.
- Avoid sharing personal information
As obvious as it sounds, you should look to avoid sharing sensitive and personal information through certain platforms, especially with a message that’s out of the blue or has an urgent tone. More often than not, if someone is asking for sensitive information without prior expectation, it’s going to be a phishing attempt.
- Don’t click suspicious links and attachments
Sometimes, links and attachments can trick you into thinking they’re legitimate with clever (or not so clever) wordings or letter changes to the links/names. When you receive a message that causes suspicion, never click or open links or attachments in the email. Although some firewalls and antivirus software can prevent them from taking effect, it’s best practice to never click anything suspicious.
- Two factor authentication and strong passwords
Even if phishing attempts break through (it happens!) if your business and individuals have two factor authenticators and strong passwords, it makes phishing attempts much harder to break through. Two factor authentication makes it so if someone does get through and tries to log in with phished information, it alerts your main connected device or personal account about a login.
- Report!
When faced with a suspicious message, be it from either email, text, message/direct message, it’s always best to report it to your designated IT support team, to help prevent anyone else from getting the same phishing attempt. You can always report the message itself if attempted through some social media channels; you can report the message and the account will get blocked and sent through to a vetting system where the account trying to phish can get suspended or deleted.
How can Big Tek help?
As a business, there will be lots of data and details that you need to keep secure, from financial information to confidential records and it can be truly disastrous should certain files and emails end up in the wrong hands. At Big Tek, our cyber security services for businesses help to plan for and fix potential threats, giving you complete peace of mind. We provide expert guidance, training and support tailored to your business. Get in touch today to see how we can help!