5 Ways to Protect Yourself Against Malicious Phishing Attempts Tutorial

5 Ways to Protect Yourself Against Malicious Phishing Attempts

What with all the phishing attempts, malware and even ransom-ware attempts these days where even Facebook isn't immune to such attacks and even spreading such attacks. I thought it was a good idea to put together something that could help to minimize the chances of you and your PC/mobile device from becoming infected. You've probably come across a phishing email in your inbox at some point. Some are very easy to spot but some not so much. To some people who are savvy to them and are vigilant about which emails they open and that's great. But some people aren't so savvy and will just click on it thinking it's all legit which isn't so great.

What is Phishing?

Phishing is a technique used by cyber criminals that uses fake spoof emails to try and trick you into logging into a website that looks like the website you think it is but actually isn't. When you try and login nothing will appear to have happened. But in the background your login details will be sent to the people behind the phishing site. Phishers try to steal peoples login details for all sorts of sites from social media to your bank including your account numbers, passwords and even banking details etc etc.

But there are also malicious phishers who try to lure you into clicking on a link that ends up installing a virus or some malware onto your PC or mobile device. They try to imbed malware onto your PC that encrypts all of your data so you can't open it and then demand a ransom (usually paid by bitcoin) so you can unlock it. You should never pay this. Nobody that pays ever gets to unlock the encryption and since the payment is made by bitcoin there's no way to get your money back!

How can you know which emails or links are phishing emails and phishing attempts?

Usually, phishing emails are terribly done and are easy to spot. For starters, check the link in your browsers address bar. It would be likely that it's not the actual site you want to be on although the domain may appear somewhat similar and this fools a lot of people. Also usually, phishing emails are quite often too good to be true such as offering amazing deals and bargains that you must send money to a 3rd party to get it but obviously it never arrives. Quite honestly, it's a dark world on the Internet and right now there are thousands of crooks and crims looking for ways to trick, scam and con people out of money.

But you have the power to prevent being another victim of this futuristic fraud. All you have to do is be extra vigilant when it comes to how you treat emails in your inbox and apply some common sense to the links you click on in emails and online on sites you don't know. Even sites you DO know such as Facebook. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security just because it's Facebook. Even Facebook isn't immune to phishing and malware infestation attempts.

See how a simple Facebook notification infected over 10,000 Windows OS Facebook users in 48 hours.

So here's 5 ways in which you can minimize being infected and prevent being a victim of a phishing attack.

1. Install Good Anti-virus and Anti-malware Software!

It used to be all about just protecting yourself against nasty viruses and trojan horses, but these days it's about much more than that. You need to install some of the latest generation of anti-virus and anti-malware that can detect viruses, trojans, rootkits, phishing attempts and spoof websites. Are they guaranteed to detect and stop every virus, trojan or malware? No. But they are very worth having because even if they only detect half of the phishing emails and spoof site links that can mean hundreds of thwarted hijack attempts.

Many of todays latest and best computer protection softwares contain all the latest definitions to detect most of nearly all viruses and trojans, phishing and malware attempts. No computer should even try connecting to the Internet without adequate protection of some kind!

Best Free Anti-Virus and Anti-malware Software for Windows

2. Learn to Spot the Difference Between Real and Fake!

Big companies and institutions like your bank or building society, the IRS or other big agencies NEVER ask you for your personal information by email. If they need you to provide them with some information like this, they will request it in the traditional way by letter. Also big companies like this never threaten and intimidate you by email telling you to "act now" or face some stiff penalty. Emails like this are never from who they say they're from and should be swiftly deleted. And if you're not sure, the best thing to do is contact the people who they say it's from by telephone and ask them if they have sent you that email. In every case it would be that they never and the email is a spoof phishing email in which case you should swiftly delete it from your inbox.

3. Don't be so quick to click on links!

Always be skeptical about clicking links in emails or anywhere for that matter! You can hover over the link to see what the URL is in your browser at the bottom but this can quite easily be faked as well. Even if you click and hold down on the link without clicking, the URL that is displayed can easily be masqueraded. Even if it all appears genuine, those links often direct you to copy cat sites that appear to be exactly like the real site but is actually a phishing site. The best thing to do if you receive any emails or anything that asks you to click a link to visit the site and get the great deal it's talking about is, just don't click it! Just go directly to that site yourself by typing the address in manually and visiting it to see if that offer really exists or not.

If you do click it and it takes you to the website, check the URL to make sure that it is definitely the site you think it is. You can also click on the padlock icon in the address bar and view the SSL security certificate for that site and see if it shows a different address to what you think it is. If it doesn't then it's a copy cat spoof phishing site and you should immediately close it down and report it.

4. Watch Out for Phony Spoof Updates!

Sometimes you might get an email telling that there is an update for your device or telling you that your order is confirmed and being shipped to you and that you need to click on the tracking link so you can check on the progress of the delivery. But if you're not expecting a delivery then it's probably a spoof phishing attempt. In which case it's probably best just to delete the email and not act upon on. You could always check on the official site by visiting it manually and logging in to see your recent orders or even give the company a quick call to check. Also there are many spoof PayPal emails that try to use this tactic as well to get you to click on the link.

Tip: Forward spoof PayPal phishing email attempts to spoof@paypal.com. PayPal have an anti-phishing department and it could be your forwarded email is the first they've heard about it and can then alert the anti-virus/malware companies.

5. Keep Private Data Private!

Some details, data and information about you is very sensitive and should never be given out. Especially in an email to someone who you don't really know. That applies even if the person you're emailing is someone you know! That's because your computer could be compromised and everything you type and send is recorded and sent back to the criminals. Some cyber criminals try to steal your contacts list and then send emails to these unsuspecting people who know and trust you. You could even end up receiving an email from someone you know and trust but really it's just a phishing attempt and their computer has been infected. For this reason, you should always be careful about what information on yourself you're giving out on the Internet or in an email even when you know the sender!

Conclusion.

These methods to protect yourself from phishing and hijack attempts don't need to be hard to do, implement and live by. They're basically common sense. Unfortunately, there are more people in the world that are clueless to all this than there are people that are clued up about it. That's why I made this! Just go careful out there kids okay! It's not all rainbows and Hershey bars! Follow these basic and simple rules and you should minimize the chances of it happening.

What are some other ways to protect and defend yourself from phishing and malware infection attempts?

What good free anti-virus or anti-malware would you recommend to people?