Avoid Disaster

Phishing is one of the most common cyber crimes facing business owners. Despite how much business owners think they know about email scams, people still find themselves victim at a staggering rate.

According to Mimecast, 58% of organizations saw phishing attacks increase this last year. Verizon found that two-thirds of all data breaches involved social engineering attacks such as phishing.

Here are 5 tips to help you identify suspicious emails.

The Message is Sent from a Public Domain
Legitimate businesses do not send emails from addresses ending in “@gmail.com,” or “@yahoo.com.” If the domain name matches the name of the organization sending the email, the message is more than likely legitimate.

Misspelled Domain Names
Another clue that something is amiss is a misspelled domain name. Once registered, no one else can access a domain, outside of the owner. Hackers have found plenty of ways to spoof legitimate domains by registering names, so be sure to check the spelling. If it looks “phishy,” it probably is!

Poorly-Written Emails
An easy way to tell if you’re dealing with a spammer is to pay attention to spelling and grammar. Many scammers impersonating legitimate businesses are not fluent in English. While they run their emails through spell-check systems, as you know, spell-check doesn’t always catch grammatical errors. If it sounds wonky, it is!

The Message Contains Suspicious Links and/or Attachments
If you receive an email with a strange looking attachment, there’s a good chance it’s infected with malware. Once downloaded onto your system, that malware can run wild and wreak havoc, performing all sorts of nefarious activities.

If you receive a link, make sure that the destination address matches the context of the rest of the email.

The Message Creates a Sense of Urgency
Scammers know us well: we’re procrastinators. To avoid having a target forget about their email, scammers create a false sense of urgency to lure victims into acting NOW before they can evaluate the situation. Don’t be pushed around by pushy emails.

If you are ever in doubt, contact the TechAdvisors Help Desk. If you are a contracted client, there is no charge for us to take a look at suspicious emails. If you are a pay-as-you-go client, we will be happy to give you pricing.

If in Doubt, Let Us Check it Out
Our Help Desk is staffed 24/7 to help with questions and concerns such as these. It is far better to double-check suspicious activities than to ignore it and find yourself in trouble.

Did You Know
TechAdvisors can help you prepare for phishing and ransomware attacks. We can fake an infected email to see if your organization has any weaknesses. Once the simulation has been run, TA will compile a report for teaching / training purposes.

We can also watch for password leaks on the dark web. This service may already be included in your service package if you’re an existing managed client. If you are not presently a managed client, now may be the time to consider adding some of these additional security services to your account.

We know that technology can be your biggest asset or your biggest headache. 
Contact sales@techadvisors.us or call (937) 340-1863 for more information.