What is a “Phishing Attack”?

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack which highly relies on human interactions. A phishing attack is often used to steal user’s private information such as login credentials, credit card information, or other sensitive data. Often in phishing attacks, the attackers pretend to be a trusted corporation to trick the victim into believing that the email, text message, or message has come from them when it is not. Usually, there is a link they send in their email which requests them to log in to their account. When they put in their username and password in that link, that information is sent to the attacker who has plotted this attack instead of the real company’s website. Below is an example of a phishing email.

Now, you’re probably wondering how to identify a phishing email. Let me give you a few tips.

1. Look for grammar errors.
2. Carefully analyze their logo.
3. Check the spellings of the domain or the sender’s email carefully.
4. It will act as a sense of urgency.
5. It includes a suspicious link or an attachment. Example below.

Phishing emails are one of the most common cyber attacks that are occurring today. Employees, as well as other users, must be taught about how to prevent or spot a phishing email. This is one way to save a lot of victims from phishing attacks.