Phishing remains a preferred method of attack for cybercriminals. cyber criminal, as they can gain significant value by successfully stealing and selling access to stolen accounts. The techniques used never stop increasing in complexity; According to the 2022 Microsoft Digital Defense Report (MDDR), the average time it takes for an attacker to access your personal data after falling prey to a phishing email is 1 hour 12 minutes.
That’s why experts Microsoft He shared important information on how to identify and protect yourself against phishing attacks. Don’t be surprised, because your information in the cloud is a commodity that hackers will want to take advantage of any way they can.
Important information to avoid becoming a victim of phishing
1. A phishing attack is a scam in which criminals try to trick you into gaining information or access.
Correct: Scammers will pretend to be a company or person you trust, or they may disguise their malware as something innocent-looking in the hopes that they’ll install it on your system.
2. Spam is considered phishing
FALSE: Spam is unwanted spam with irrelevant or commercial content. They may advertise quick money schemes, illegal offers or fake rebates; Phishing is a more targeted (and usually better disguised) attempt to obtain sensitive data, in which victims are tricked into voluntarily handing over account information and credentials.
3. Email phishing and malware phishing are the most popular phishing attacks used by criminals
Truth: Email phishing, where criminals use tactics such as fake hyperlinks to entice email recipients to share their personal information; and malware phishing, an attack that involves planting malware disguised as a trusted attachment (such as a resume or bank statement) in an email, are the most common and frequent attacks.
There are also other types of phishing attacks that you should be aware of if you want to protect your information, such as smishing, a combination of the words “SMS” and “phishing”, which involves sending text messages disguised as trusted communications. companies. Recognized. People are especially vulnerable to SMS scams, as text messages are delivered in plain text and appear more personal.
4. Cyber attack is easy to detect
FALSE: Attackers have the ability to manipulate their victims into handing over sensitive data by hiding malicious messages and attachments in places people aren’t too susceptible (for example, in their email inboxes). They use clever communication, create an impression of neediness and false confidence to fool people, and even use psychological tactics to trick their targets into acting before they think.
5. Taking a proactive approach to cyberattacks can help me protect my online information
Correct: You can follow these guidelines to protect yourself from phishing:
- Check the sender’s email address. is everything ok? A misspelled character or unusual spelling may indicate a counterfeit.
- Be wary of emails with generic salutations (“Dear Customer,” for example) that ask you to take immediate action.
- View verifiable contact information for the sender. If in doubt, don’t answer. Start a new email to reply to instead.
- Never send confidential information by email.
- Think twice before clicking on unexpected links, especially if they ask you to sign in to your account. To be sure, log in from the official website.
- Avoid opening email attachments from unknown senders or friends who don’t usually send you email attachments.
- Install a phishing filter for your email application and enable spam filtering for your email accounts.
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