IT Security Tip #3: How to spot a phishing e-mail

IT Security Tip #3: How to spot a phishing e-mail

A phishing e-mail is a bogus e-mail that is carefully designed to look like a legitimate request (or attached file) from a site you trust in an effort to get you to willingly give up your login information to a particular website or to click and download a virus.

Often these e-mails look 100% legitimate and show as a message from companies like UPS or FedEx, a major bank, Facebook, etc. What makes them so dangerous is that they LOOK exactly like a legitimate e-mail. So how can you tell a phishing e-mail from a legitimate one? Here are a few telltale signs…

First, hover over the URL in the e-mail (but DON’T CLICK!) to see the ACTUAL website you’ll be directed to. If there’s a mismatched or suspicious URL, delete the e-mail immediately. In fact, it’s a good practice to just go to the site direct (typing it into your browser) rather than clicking on the link to get to a particular site.

A second telltale sign is poor grammar and spelling errors.

Another warning sign is that the e-mail is asking you to “verify” or “validate” your login or is asking for personal information. But think about it, why would your bank need you to verify your account number? They should already have that information.

And finally, if the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Not sure if the email you received is legit or not? Call Meeting Tree Computer at 845-237-2117 and ask us to take a look. We have technicians standing by to help.

Meeting Tree Computer – Real IT support, for Real People