Phishing and Malicious Email and Websites

The number of new phishing and malicious emails and websites is on the rise and their sophistication has increased. Below are some tips to help protect yourself.

Ransomware

Ransomware is increasingly being used by hackers to extort money from companies and individuals. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that takes over your computer and prevents you from accessing files until you pay a ransom.

• Do not click on links or attachments from senders that you do not recognize. Be especially wary of .zip or other compressed or executable file types.
• Do not provide sensitive personal information (like usernames and passwords) over email.
• Watch for email senders that use suspicious or misleading domain names.
• If you can’t tell if an email is legitimate or not ignore it or delete it. If you are at work, contact your work's IT support team.
• Be especially cautious when opening attachments or clicking links if you receive an email containing a warning banner indicating that it originated from an external source.
• Keep "offline" backups of important information. For example, an external hard drive that is only connected when performing backups or restoring files.
  
  

If your computer is infected with ransomware, you will typically be locked out of all programs and a “ransom screen” will appear.  If you are an employee at a business, contact your internal IT support team. For individuals you may need to seek help from profession IT services.

Phishing

"Phishing" is the most common type of cyber-attack that affects organizations and individuals. Phishing attacks can take many forms, but they all share a common goal – getting you to share sensitive information such as login credentials, credit card information, or bank account details.

We’ve outlined a few different types of phishing attacks to watch out for:

• Phishing: In this type of attack, hackers impersonate a real company or individual to obtain your login credentials. You may receive an e-mail asking you to verify your account details with a link that takes you to an imposter login screen that delivers your information directly to the attackers.
• Spear Phishing: Spear phishing is a more sophisticated phishing attack that includes customized information that makes the attacker seem like a legitimate source. They may use your name and phone number and refer to your company name or other personal information in the e-mail to trick you into thinking they have a connection to you, making you more likely to click a link or attachment that they provide.
• Whaling: Whaling is a popular ploy aimed at getting you to transfer money or send sensitive information to an attacker via email by impersonating a real company executive. Using a fake domain that appears similar to to the target, they look like normal emails from a high-level official of the company, typically the CEO or CFO, and ask you for sensitive information (including usernames and passwords).
• Shared Document Phishing: You may receive an email that appears to come from file-sharing sites like Dropbox or Google Drive alerting you that a document has been shared with you. The link provided in these e-mails will take you to a fake login page that mimics the real login page and will steal your account credentials.

What You Can Do?

To avoid these phishing schemes, please observe the following email best practices:

• Do not click on links or attachments from senders that you do not recognize. Be especially wary of .zip or other compressed or executable file types.
• Do not provide sensitive personal information (like usernames and passwords) over email.
• Watch for email senders that use suspicious or misleading domain names (microsoft.com vs micr0soft.com for example)
• Inspect URLs carefully to make sure they’re legitimate and not imposter sites.
• Do not try to open any shared document that you’re not expecting to receive.
• Be especially cautious when opening attachments or clicking links if you receive an email containing a warning banner indicating that it originated from an external source.

General Tips

• Always make sure your Operating System and applications are up to date
• Use and keep up to date anti-virus software
• Consider using tools to block ads and suspicious sites. Many ads and ad networks can become infected and deliver "drive-by" attacks
• Keep backups of your important files or whole systems. Preferably have an "offline" backup that cannot be targeted if your computer is compromised