Phishing emails often purport to be from a familiar institution like your bank or Amazon. The sender’s name might be something meant to indicate this (e.g., “Amazon Orders”), but often it won’t match the actual return address, which might be something very long and garbled. That mismatch is a sign to stay away.
Phishing is a rudimentary but highly effective cyberattack. Unlike more sophisticated attacks, it is difficult to stop with modern cybersecurity solutions because it exploits human weakness, namely the inclination to trust communications that seem legitimate. Over 90 percent of cyberattacks may begin with phishing.
