Misunderstandings about phishing
Phishing is currently a hot topic in the media and rightly so! However because of all this attention, there are often misunderstandings about phishing. Using this post, we would like to resolve a few of these misunderstandings.
Phishing mails always contain errors
Online users are always told that a phishing mail will contain grammatical errors. These mails are supposedly full of spelling mistakes or contain wrong punctuation. However, this is certainly not always the case, and in fact it is rather the opposite now. A phishing mail will often not contain any errors at all and will look completely normal. In other words, don’t assume that if an email does not contain spelling errors, it is automatically safe to proceed.
Phishing is always generic
A false mail, text message or telephone call used to be easy to recognize. A distant relative suddenly turns up with a sum of money, and needs some information from you to deposit it.
Today, however, cybercriminals do their homework thoroughly. They do research on your company and become familiar with your processes and your employees. It’s pretty easy for them to find out who works where, and what position they hold.
To avoid being misled by someone pretending to be your colleague, you should read everything carefully and ask yourself the question “is it useful that this colleague asks me this?
You always have to click on something malicious
Phishing attacks are not always about corrupt links and malicious downloads. Sometimes they just ask for information such as financial details, personal details or login details. They even ask you to do something – send a document, change customer information, or change company information.
At this point, you must slow down and analyse what you are asked to do. Do not rush, just because you can. Check the request and the sender before doing anything with the request.
