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Anti-Phishing Guide
Friday, November 20, 2009
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Signs that you are being Phished:
- The message is addressed to someone like "Dear Customer"
instead of using your name.
- The email is from an institution claiming to have financial
information for you even though you haven't ever dealt with them
before.
- The body of the message includes something really dramatic like
"We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your Citizens
Bank account may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party."
- The email asks you to verify personal information by following
a link in the body of the message.
- The email contains a form that asks for your personal
information.
- The email has misspelled words, bad grammar or weird strings
of characters at the bottom.
- The site that the email directs you to is not secure. (The
URL does not start with "https://...")
- The email or website is asking you for information that isn't
relevant. (i.e. PayPal asking for your Social Security Number.)
How do you protect yourself from a Phishing scam?
First, it is important to understand that legitimate businesses should never ask for
your personal information through an email. But since not all legitimate businesses follow
this protocol, you should have some extra protection to know the difference between an
honest email and a hoax.
With Secure IE Browser Security you can rest assured that no phisher will be able to
fool you.
Secure IE's Security Manager allows you to corral your favorite sites (like your bank or
eBay etc) into security zones that you can see at the bottom of your browser
window. Think of security zones like you would a traffic light. Green means "Go",
Yellow means "Caution" and Red means "Stop". If you click on a link in an email and it
sends you to what you think is your bank's website, simply check the security zone at the
bottom of the page.
Since you trust your bank lets say you have categorized it as:
However, the link you clicked on takes you to a page that looks like either of these:
Since the security zone is different, this immediately warns you that you are in
dangerous waters and it is likely the site is an imposter.
Phishing is just one of the ways that a hacker can attack your computer.
Here's how Secure IE's multifaceted security protects your computer:
- Stops Spyware at the point of entry by restricting ActiveX to a
"safelist" of authorized software
- Blocks popups that are often used by hackers as a gateway to installing
programs you don't want on your system.
- Features an automatic security tune-up that scans your PC, detects and
corrects current browser security problems.
Get the Protection You Need
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