What is Phishing?

1. What is Phishing? Malicious e-mail attachments sent to target cos. or individuals for gaining unauthorized access to their data and other confidential information is called Phishing. They may contain links or documents inducing you to click on them which then ask you to download a payload which then grants the access to your system and network. These phishing emails are used by the hackers as with e-mail it’s easy to reach a huge mass of people at large and that too with a high success rate. There are different types of Phishing like- Spear Phishing— On one individual Whaling— Used for high up levels in the company Smishing – Texting Phishing Attacks Vishing – Stealing data over the phone calls — Posing as the IRS Angular Phishing – Using social media platforms to steal data           You can safeguard yourself from the phishing activities by simply identifying an e-mail that may be phishing. Following are some of the points that will help you to analyze that this is a phishing e- mail & not an ordinary one. The sender is someone you don’t know   The email has urgency  

2. Includes grammar/spelling mistakes Asks for personal information Links to websites Greeting is generic         During this phase of COVID-19 crisis, there has been a gradual rise in the phishing activities so, please be cautious of any kind of e-mail referring to the following as it may be a phishing email: Stimulus checks COVID-19 vaccines Email from CDC Verify personal info Updating the COVID-19 status           A free resource to check if an email may be a phishing attack is virustotal.com. If you want to learn more about how to secure your environment, please reach out to us at sales@aurorait.com.