You are at working late and you receive an email that looks like it’s from your boss. It seems a little odd that your boss would be asking you to call him right away. And what do we need to get a bunch of gift cards for?
Do you immediately call the number provided in the email? Do you run out to the store and get the gift cards as requested? Or, do you assume it is an imposter trying to get access to your phone number, email account or maybe banking information?
A little bit of paranoia is good.
Everyday we hear about someone that clicked on the bad email, called the bad phone number or sent the money or gift cards to the bad guys.
As for me, I always assume everyone is out to get me. Everyone is pretending to be someone they are not, just to fool me into doing something, well, foolish. This is what I want everyone to think, especially online and especially with email.
Email is the bait and when you click on the fraudulent links, the bad guys get their prize.
91% of cyber attacks start with a phishing email. Bad guys are looking for users to click on the email link or open an email attachment. Then bad things happen. They spoof your email, they spoof your phone number, they get access to your account… or they get your money. Maybe they use your identity to get money from people you know. Gobble Gobble. No matter how you look at it, it’s all bad.
The important thing is to not be the turkey that blindly clicks. Be cautious and a little paranoid. Check the sender email address, and don’t let your phone number get compromised by responding to phishing texts.
To keep your business applications and data safe, call us today to help move your server and business desktops into the cloud. It’s a safer and more secure way to deploy business IT, and gives you better fault tolerance, greater agility, and faster recovery if the bad thing does happen.
