5 Tips To Spot Phishing Emails & 5 Tips For Security Analysts
Phishing scams are cybercrime in which cyber criminals send unsolicited emails posing as legitimate institutions to social engineer their victims into providing sensitive data such as passwords, personally identifiable information (PII), and financial information such as their credit card details.
Almost half of all phishing emails are opened, and organizations lose millions every time an employee falls to this trick; as a result, phishing emails intend to be cyber criminals’ biggest weapons. Some of the most significant cyber-attacks you would have heard about involved phishing, be it a bogus email that misled an employee into conveying their corporate login details or tricked them into downloading an attachment infected with malware; – whoever they claim to be, cyber criminals’ goal is to make their victims believe that their message is legitimate with the intent to persuade them to perform an action that benefits the cybercriminal.
Unfortunately, their attacks constantly evolve, making it hard for experts to train individuals about what to be on the lookout for; nonetheless, the specifics of phishing scams might change, but there are always tell-tale signs that you’re being phished. Below are seven clues on how to spot phishing emails.
5 Tips To Spot Phishing Emails
- Contains known social engineering principles: Social engineering principles are known standard techniques cyber criminals utilize to enhance their effectiveness in making their victims believe their message is legitimate.
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- Authority: Attackers claiming to be a person in a leadership role then use this fake authority to intimidate their target into performing an action.
- Intimidation: The message often threatens a negative consequence if you fail to take the action requested in their message.
- Urgency: The attacker claims that something will exist only for a limited time; victims have 24 hours before losing all their data; urgency is most effective with ransomware.
- Scarcity: This is similar to urgency, but the attacker will claim that there is a limited supply; get it now or never; the goal here is to pressure the victim to make a decision or risk missing out on the offer due to a limited number.
- Consensus: Hackers use this method to sway their victims that action is generally accepted within the context of the attack; attackers could use this technique when they receive suspicion from their target, and the goal is to persuade them otherwise.
- Familiarity/Liking: This is where an attacker takes advantage of a target by introducing them to something familiar; often, this is something the target likes or supports.
- Trust: This is where an attacker exploits an existing trust; this technique is often used in spear phishing attacks where the attacker has done more research on the target.
2. Too Good To Be True –Their offers are insanely lucrative, attention-grabbing, and eye-catching, designed to get their victims to click on a link, or they will make a persuasive/emotional case to get their victims to perform an action detrimental to their interest.
3. Random Email –Occasionally, these emails might come from someone you know; nonetheless, the contexts are unusual and out of character. However, most times, it’s from someone you don’t know, unsolicited, unexpected, and seems out of the ordinary, don’t click on it; this is a phishing email.
4. Contains Hyperlinks:An email with instructions embedded with links to get you to completely different or unknown websites. Sometimes, hovering over these links might show you the actual URL, but it’s better safe than sorry reporting the email is the best cause of action.
5. Unsolicited Attachments:If you see an attachment in an email, you weren’t expecting or that doesn’t make sense, don’t open it! These attachments might contain macros or payloads that detonate upon opening the attachments. Attacks like ransomware and multiple viruses are propagated this way, so to be safe, don’t open unknown attachments.
Finally, for Security Analysts Only:
During your investigation, dump the email header and verify the following:
- X-Originating & Domain Details: (Pinpoints the actual IP & Domain)
- X-Mailer: Verifying the mail client used to send the email
. Return-Path field (Check If it’s different from the sender email)
- SPF (Pass/Fail/Neutral) to help address forgery)
- DKIM/DMARC (Check if Domain signature passes verification)
Statistically, around 94% of all cyber attacks are executed via email, making it the most common method of attack by hackers. If email protection is your business’s primary concern, our dedicated email workforce at 360CyberX can help.
