There’s a common practice of sending direct mail disguised as courts summons or other official documentation, to make a reply more likely. Many phishing emails can take basically the same approach, only in digital form. That is, they might use all-caps subject lines (e.g., “URGENT:”) to make it seem like action is required. It isn’t. […]

No company will ever, under any circumstances, ask you for your password via email. Any email asking you to provide your password is a phishing scam. If you ever need to enter your password, always type the URL of the company’s site directly into the hyperlink bar to be sure the site is genuine. Also […]

Phishing is regularly associated with tactics such as a scammer telling someone they’ve won a prize, but it can also take the form of attempted extortion. Be wary of any email threatening to expose something about you unless you quickly submit payment. Simply delete it instead of engaging at all.

Publicly posting anything on social media is a security risk if someone knows where to look. As with other personal details, hackers can turn your work history into a vital channel for breaking into your digital accounts or launching a phishing campaign. LinkedIn, for example, may contain all sorts of sensitive information about you. So […]

Some of the best-disguised phishing attempts speak to you like a person, use one or two things to personalize the message, and imitate company logos to a tee. But they might be missing a final sign of legitimacy – a real-life address on the email signature. Official business and customer care comms won’t be shy […]

Despite SMS being a somewhat outdated medium, “smishing” (SMS phishing) presents a real risk to your personal information and online security. It’s a perfect method for scammers because the limitations of simple text characters and links makes it easy to hide their true intentions. As texts are often received and read on smartphones, scammers can […]