Phishing might now sound all that frightening, but hackers are getting increasingly sophisticated in their manipulation techniques. Sangfor has recently warned of phishing emails, malicious links and sites taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to infiltrate company systems, but constant vigilance is key to keeping your company information safe – so let’s take a look at a few tell-tale details that should tip you off!
Logos, email signatures and names are easily found and copied, but there are several ways a savvy user can identify these falsified emails – so how do you identify a phishing email?
The Sender
A professional company email will not come from a “yahoo,” “Hotmail,” “Gmail,” or any other widely available personal user account. Organizations only spell their company email address in one way. Look for the “@COMPANY-NAME.com” before opening the email in question.
The Subject
Phishing emails are designed to appeal to the largest number of people with the least amount of sophistication, and there are often spelling, grammar and content mistakes. While many international companies work with a large cross-section of countries and with people with varying degrees of English language ability – there are things you can look for. Ensure that information in the email is actually “important” or “critical.” Reputable companies will not send general, mass produced, unsolicited emails, asking you to visit an unrecognizable website or link or send you 2FA requests without prior notice or communication.
The Greeting
As phishing emails are blasted in huge batches, they often can’t address you by name. If the email in question addresses you as “Jane” or “John Doe” or with a general salutation – it has the potential to be a phishing email.
The Links
Manipulating users into clicking on malicious links is the life-blood of phishing. If you see a link in an email, it’s always a good idea to hover over the link to ensure you will be sent to the site written in the email. Also, check the spelling of the link. Organizations do not add unexpected letters, numbers, prefixes or suffixes to their email addresses or links, and will always spell their company name correctly. If the company name is misspelled – be alert!
The Warnings or Threats
Well managed organizations take personal accountability and communication very seriously, and will not reach out unsolicited with threats, warnings or requests for money, compensation or information. General requests, warnings or threats can be considered suspicious.
The Information
The ultimate purpose of most phishing email is to gain as much useful information as possible with the least amount of effort. Well managed, security minded organizations are well aware of the importance of personal information and company data, and will do everything they can to protect yours. Do not reply to unsolicited or unexpected emails asking for personal or company data without carefully exploring the sender information.
Why Sangfor?
If you feel at any time you are being manipulated, strong-armed or lied too – this is serious! Sangfor has built their business around the protection of your personal and company information and is there to protect and serve you! Get in touch today to stay safe and connected and build value through IT.
If you are interested in learning more about how to protect remote employees and your business, contact Sangfor Technologies today. Sangfor has built a solid reputation on looking to the future for IT inspiration – and it’s needed now more than ever.
Sangfor Technologies is an APAC-based, global leading vendor of IT infrastructure solutions specializing in Network Security and Cloud Computing. Visit us at www.sangfor.com to learn more about Sangfor’s cloud computing options, and let Sangfor make your IT simpler, more secure and more valuable.
