Research shows that fake email, spam and email phishing accounts for an average of 17% of corporate emails received every day.
You receive a daily average of 75 emails in the workplace. Are you confident that you have the tools to quickly and accurately check they are legitimate?
Spelling goes out of the window when it comes to email phishing
The clue is literally in the name. For cyber criminals, fake email phishing is about creating a huge number of emails in the hope of luring just a few victims.
Poor spelling and grammatical accuracy is common in emails that weren’t intended just for you. Keeping your eyes peeled for small mistaykes is a simple way to ensure your business details stay safe. (Did you spot it?)
Are you expecting this email? If not, use caution.
If someone arrived at your front door unannounced, you wouldn’t immediately invite them inside for a cuppa and a slice of that lovely fruit cake you made on Sunday afternoon. You’d ask the obvious questions. Who are you? And what do you want?
- The same goes for email phishing. When exploring your inbox, ask yourself:
- Am I expecting an email from this sender today?
- Have I had any previous interaction with the sender – do I know them?
- Is this sender expecting contact from me?
If you don’t know the sender or why they would be contacting you, don’t let them in. Chances are, you’re looking at email phishing.
Our advice? Treat unexpected emails with the same suspicion you would a stranger at your front door.
Email phishing is a 24-7 job.
Turns out, the criminals behind the latest phishing email don’t get much sleep. Perhaps they are up all night binge-watching Glee on Netflix. We’ve all been there.
To easily spot fake email phishing, glance at the timestamp on your email. Does it seem likely that Frank from Accounts is invoicing you at 0437am?
No? Then stop. Do not pass Go, do not send Frank £200.
Instead, block the sender, delete the email and move on with those 62 other legitimate emails you have to deal with this morning.
Unexpected attachments? Time to detach.
Attachments are standard practice in the world of email, so it’s easy to become complacent. And the scammers behind email phishing know this.
They’ll happily drop an attachment containing viruses or malware into your inbox, in the hope that you’ll double-click and download. And by then, it’s too late.
If you’re not expecting an attachment, channel your inner poet and repeat after me:
Hold off on the mouse-clicking; It’s simply email phishing.
Instead, consider using secure document sharing cloud applications like Google Drive and Microsoft 365 to safely share documents without the need to download files to your device.
Don’t be drawn in by the urgency of email phishing
Limited availability! Limited time offer! Last chance! Act now!
Woah, woah, woah. Take a minute. Nothing, bar a medical emergency or the Friday evening walk to the pub, is that urgent.
Again, it’s those pesky email phishing scammers. This time, they want that rush of adrenaline that we get when we fear missing out to cloud our better judgement.
By taking just a moment to clarify whether the email seems legit, you’ll engage the pragmatic side of your brain and avoid the little email phishing trap set in front of you. A win for you – and now you can crack on with whatever your boss says is really very urgent today.
Summary
Spotting email phishing is an important skill in keeping your digital spaces safe and secure. Alongside an eagle-eyed approach to spotting the traps dropping into your inbox every day, utilising a professional IT support service to fully protect and maintain your IT can be a worthwhile investment.
Get in touch with our team here at Network & Security for information about keeping your system in (our) safe hands.
