What is phishing and how to protect yourself

Phishing is a cyber crime, often occurring via email, through which users are induced to provide sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information, bank and credit card details.

The information obtained by hackers, who pose as legitimate and recognized organizations such as banks or web service portals, can result in identity theft and financial loss.

We decided to write this article to better protect your security and thus understand what phishing is, how it works, and how you can protect yourself.

Table of Contents:
What is phishing?
Characteristics of pishing
How does phishing operate?
How to protect yourself from phishing?
Shellrent and security
What is phishing?
Phishing is one of the most well-known and widespread computer crimes, but despite this, it remains one of the scams that most mislead users. The term phishing is derived from the English fishing, catching, and refers to the act of “fishing for information” by deception.

It is a telematic scam, carried out mainly via e-mail, but also via text messages: the goal of the attackers is to steal users’ information and personal data.

Phishing attack campaigns have some recurring characteristics, which make it increasingly difficult to recognize the scam:

• The domain of the email message is similar to, or even matches, the original domain of the organization;
• The text message is well-written and information-rich, so it appears to come from a trusted source;
• Credential phishing links resemble official login pages.

Characteristics of pishing
What are the common features of the pishing technique?

Only seemingly trustworthy sender. Be sure to always verify the address from which the e-mail came. Often, hackers use a free e-mail service and not a trusted domain.

Sense of urgency. A favorite tactic of cybercriminals is to ask you to act quickly. Usually, these e-mails suggest that you proceed quickly with updating your login information.

Hyperlinks. Short URLs are usually inserted in the body of the emails to conceal the original link and make it trustworthy.

Attachments. If you see an unusual attachment in an email, do not open it-they often contain payloads such as ransomware or other viruses.

How does phishing operate?
It is increasingly difficult to recognize a phishing message from an original one, and because of this, many users fall into the trap by clicking the link in the email text.

Typical phishing messages might concern:

• The expiration of a password;
• The renewal of credit or prepaid cards;
• Problems inherent in transferring money, such as through PayPal;
• Incomplete registration to a site, with an invitation to enter additional credentials.

If the user takes the bait and clicks on the link in the text of the e-mail, they are directed to an illegitimate websitein which they are asked to enter their credentials, username and password.

As a result, the information entered will be transmitted to the criminal who will use it to steal identity, intercept access to bank accounts, or sell confidential information. In addition, the same device used by the victim may also be infected with viruses and malware.

How to protect yourself from phishing?
To protect yourself from phishing, the main rule is one: create and manage your data with care and autonomy, do not disseminate it, and always make sure of the sender of the email. Protect your personal information yourself.

Here are our suggestions:

• Start with a principle: official organizations/companies never ask for sensitive information such as your credentials via email.
• information such as your credentials via email.
  Check the origin of the message and read it carefully: grammatical, formatting or translation errors should make you suspicious.
• Always check the sender and related links within the text before clicking on them; you can check the veracity of the link by simply hovering your mouse over it to make sure it matches.
• Pay attention to the tone of the message: it could be alarming and urging you to take an immediate action, or it could be polite and courteous by inviting you to update your information for updates to the system or other factors.
• Check that the page URL has a security protocol, so start with HTTPS and not HTTP. S is no guarantee of legitimacy but still provides greater security, usually used by official organizations.
• Use computer security tools such as anti-malware protection software.
• If you want to help, report the attack on the site of the State Police’s Commissariat, the Postal Police, dedicated to combating mail fraud and cybercrime: it is a simple online procedure for submitting information about cybercrimes. This way you can also help other users not to fall into the trap.

Shellrent and Security
Security is the core business of our company policy: that’s why our payoff defines us as “Italian Security First Hosting.” In Shellrent we are constantly working to protect your data in different ways, advancing security solutions. All email accounts, for example, are protected by Antivirus and Antispam.