Have you ever fallen prey to phishing scams? Whether you’ve seen them in passing or personally been a victim of a cybercrime, phishing is prevalent everywhere in the cyber world. So, how do you learn to recognize and defend against phishing attacks? With years of cybercrime experience, our experts at Premier IT are going to explain how commonplace scammers are, show you how to detect phishing attacks, and, hopefully, keep you out of harm’s way.
How to Detect Phishing Scams?
One of the best defenses against phishing scams is to stay aware of them. Awareness of phishing emails helps you detect them before they cause any harm. While the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center works dutifully to prevent digital phishing attacks, you still have to stand guard. Oftentimes, a phishing email may look like it’s coming from a reputable site, but look carefully — it may have obvious or subtle signs that something isn’t right. Keep an eye out for:
- Misspellings
- Foreign words
- Grammatical mistakes
- Distorted graphics
- URL will match the one from the company you are used to doing business with
How to Avoid Phishing Attacks
If you receive a suspicious email, try using an alternate form of communication (or an out of band) method to verify if the email is legitimate or fraudulent. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there are some best practices to avoid falling victim to phishing scams:
- Invest in the latest, greatest security software
- Turn on automatic software updates
- Install multi-factor authentication
- Back up your data frequently and regularly
- Contact the company if you’re suspicious
How Common Are Phishing Attacks?
In 2021, roughly half of cybercrime victims fell prey to a phishing attack. If you’ve ever wondered, how common are phishing scams, the answer is very common. Most cyberattacks begin with phishing and progress from there. Whether it’s in the form of a text or an email, anyone — even you — can be a victim. Most people assume that a spammy email will look, well, spammy. However, scammers are evolving just as quickly as the average person catches on. Which means people are still falling prey to phishing cybercrimes.
What Happens If You Fall Victim to Phishing?
What happens if you become a victim of a phishing attack? Once a scammer gets hold of your passwords, your account numbers, or your social security numbers, there’s a range of things that could happen. At the very least, a cyber thief could steal your money or find out where you live. At the worst, they could steal your entire identity. There’s a very good reason to keep this information to yourself. You don’t want to compromise your data privacy by providing easy access to your email, bank, or other accounts.
Prevent Phishing Scams with IT Support
There are certain preventative measures that you can take to prevent your data from falling into the wrong hands. Using Premier IT to implement malware protection and keep your technology updated can ensure that your company information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Reach out to us today to learn how our Premier IT team can protect your data.
Protect yourself from phishing with our expert IT team.
Remember: you can’t be too careful with your sensitive data. Check out this article from the Federal Trade Commission https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams. And be sure to reach out to us with questions!
Premier IT is a Minnesota based managed IT services provider with a dedicated IT support team that manages all your technology needs. We pay attention to the details so you can focus on what you do best. We provide technical consulting, hosted infrastructure, computer & network support, security, Microsoft support, repairs, network monitoring and more. If your small business needs reliable technical support, contact our team of experienced technicians and engineers.