How To Spot Phishing Websites?

 

How to Identify Phishing Websites?

As more and more business is conducted online, a website becomes crucial for a company to communicate with the target audience. The importance of a website has several challenges. Also one of them is the threat of hackers. Once there is a data breach, the price to pay in the end is huge. This can lead to loss of trust and severe penalties imposed by government agencies, apart from lawsuits. That is why learning how to identify phishing websites is necessary and even mandatory.

According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR)-2019, it reports that phishing attacks are a leading risk among all data breaches. Phishing attacks accounted for 32% of data breach cases.

As an internet user, it is essential to be aware of such attacks that can directly target them through phishing sites. According to the Google Transparency Report, the number of phishing websites has increased. The number of such websites is more than 1.35 million. This is a growth of 130.5% since 2017.

Hackers can trick Internet users into believing that the user is on a targeted website. And sensitive personal data can be stolen. This article attempts to provide more information about Phishing and how users can identify such Phishing websites early.

What is Phishing?

Phishing is a malicious activity where cybercriminals first send an email. Then they weave various tricks to lure innocent users to the website. Then one by one they ask for personal information like user id and password, social security details or financial information and credit card details.

These emails appear to be from reputable business outlets to make users trust the content of the email. Emails can lure users into downloading malware. It can cause immense harm in your personal computer.

Hackers can launch spear-phishing attacks against business websites. Hackers can then collect customer credentials. They get the details of trusted customers of that business and conduct phishing attacks on them. These phishing scams are not limited to emails only. They are also on social media. There are specific rules about reporting against spam and phishing, and they apply to different social media channels.

Check Website Credentials

Before giving your personal details on a website, you should always check if the website has the https:// tag. It is always recommended to visit https:// websites only. These are protected with SSL certificates. They require rigorous evaluation checks before handing over. Businesses should at least choose one of the cheapest SSL certificates to prevent any defamation against their brand.

These certificates encrypt communication with the visitor’s browser. This ensures that your website is validated through proper authentication. And know that there are no duplicates. However, you still need to check whether the website is authentic or not. You have to click on the padlock and in the drop-down, click on the “Certificate” tab. There is a “General” tab that shows an overview of the certificate and its validity. You can also click on the “Details” tab for additional details about the certificate.

Link Check the email sent

Most phishing emails come from an email id. It looks like a reputable business. Internet users should check email senders. It may be equivalent to a reputable trade name and may even contain its name. However, it does not contain its full URL. Because most of the famous companies have moved to https platform. No fraudster can register another website with the same URL.

You have to click on the alias to find out the email address of the email sender, or who sent the email. If it is a phishing email, it may contain the name of a well-known business or business outlet. But it will be from some generic service providers.

Check Domain Name

You should check the domain name used to send the email. Suppose you have previously received an email/message from a business. In that case, you can check the terminology of the emails from the company. Then it’s always good to be doubly sure that it really came from them and is safe.

Most phishing emails come from deceptive domain names. But hackers send emails from websites with some differences such as www.paypalz.com or www.paypalz.biz by copying the world famous business organization PayPal.com. It is essential to closely check the domain name where the email is coming from. If it comes from a normal email ID like @gmail.com, etc., you should watch these emails extra carefully. Some common domain extensions used by hackers are Info, biz, stream, etc.

Some other emails can also be sent using a Tiny URL that generates Domain Shortcut or Shorten Links. You may also receive an SMS containing this short URL which you need to click to login to the website. You should always check the domain name before clicking on this URL. It should be thoroughly checked whether it is compatible with the business or business organizations. If you make a mistake here, you will face huge difficulties and losses.

Make sure you visit the website directly

If you have received an email that you think is phishing, the best way to avoid them is to visit the official website directly. If you don’t know about the domain name, you can do a search on Google. From there you can get the official domain name to visit the website. On the official website, you can check whether the information provided in the email you received is correct or not.

If you don’t get the information, you can get the customer care number. And can contact customer support. In this way, more details can be gathered about the information you received via the offer or email. You should take appropriate action regarding the email only after confirmation by the Customer Support team. This may seem cumbersome to you, but it will prevent you from falling into a phishing email trap.

Conclude with the email writing style

A common feature of a phishing email is that it is hard-hitting in its writing to instill fear in you. Fear can be about anything. You may also know about the pending EMI. Specific links can be sent to fill up such pending EMI. Or may send specific phishing email links saying that your account is closed or re-establishing such accounts. Even if you are EMI defaulters, you may need to re-learn the necessary documents your customers need to provide to keep the account running. Or retrieving your credit card/debit card/ATM card details etc.

There may be many of them, and you need to provide these details by visiting the shammy website. But if you find the tone of the email too unusual and harsh then you don’t need to visit the site.

Emails that say ‘general greetings’ can sometimes trick you into phishing. Such emails may lead to a threat approach that requires you to take urgent action. If you are in doubt about it, you should postpone visiting such websites and instead of confirming the details via email or SMS, call your service provider first.

Check the Layout and Content of the website

Most phishing websites look like the real legitimate target website in design or colors and fonts used. However, you should always check the logos and shades used on all pages of the website. If you have the slightest doubt, you should open another browser window. And there you have to type the domain name of your business/business website. And both should be adjusted. This way you can quickly identify whether that dubious website is legitimate or not.

You should look carefully at the content of the website. Most phishing websites have faulty content with lots of mistakes in grammar and syntax. There can also be many spelling mistakes. Such gross errors in its content should cause you to feel disbelief. And you should permanently mark that site you visited as an untrusted website.

Because, the basic purpose of such websites is not to reach the audience. But it is about luring innocent people and collecting their personal information from them.

Check the documents attached to the emails

Organizations should have a mechanism to check attachments accompanying emails from unknown sources. Using upgraded antiviruses can check suspicious emails for any related viruses. Documents are also scanned before users download them. Antiviruses will flag any possible viruses and warn users not to download these files.

Sometimes, phishing emails contain malware that can damage files on the network. To prevent this from happening, you should verify the SSL certificate associated with such executable codes. This assures the email recipient that the downloadable code is from a trusted source and can be safely downloaded to their computer.

Protecting Yourself Against Phishing Scams

Although we take all security measures and claim to protect ourselves from phishing emails, there may be some loopholes that hackers can take advantage of to attack our networks. Businesses should have a fool-proof plan. And should have regular training sessions with their employees. We should follow all these tips on how to spot phishing websites.

Security for your Devices

You must have proper safeguards in place on all computers in the organization. All computers should have the latest antivirus version to prevent unknown emails from passing through the security tool. Having an anti-malware application is essential to protect against any malware deployed on the network.

Keep the software up to date

Software on all computers must be up to date to prevent any errors in previous versions. This includes updating the current software with the latest patch updates. To prevent attacks from hackers, your team should set up notifications to ensure that software updates are installed.

Blocking all Pop-ups

Phishing scammers have a unique way of collecting user data. They use pop-ups to provide their data to internet users. Otherwise, there may be a link in the pop-up. It may lead you to a phishing website. Blocking pop-ups in browsers is necessary for all computers on the network. Although it is small enough to act against phishing scams, it acts as a useful layer in terms of security.

Use of Anti-Spam Software

It is imperative that businesses install anti-spam email software. It blocks all spam and can also work against phishing emails. Some solutions may block specific email addresses. And others can block emails based on the subject line and text in email messages. Anti-spam filters can automatically block spam emails. This keeps the inbox free from spam.

Consult if you have any doubts

In some cases, phishing emails appear to come from a colleague. If you have doubts about the matter, it will help you to have a conversation with the colleague who received the email. Hackers can target employees by pretending to receive emails from managers and asking for critical information. It always helps to consult with senior management before giving important information.

Always be careful

It helps to change user credentials periodically. And using a password manager can also help. It remembers your user credentials for the website you visit most often. But if the domain name is different then it will not fill automatically. It is also essential not to access public Wi-Fi systems. Because they can be easily hacked by hackers.

You must not visit any websites by clicking on links and not entering your personal information on public networks. Learning how to spot phishing may not be easy. But you need to learn it as soon as possible.

How to reduce the effects of Phishing Attack?

Even if you take all these precautions, you can still fall victim to a phishing attack. You should inform senior management and IT team or team about the attack. A lot of precautions can be taken from this. If you provide financial information, you must inform your finance team. And request that necessary steps be taken to block the accounts. You can report a cyber attack or phishing attack to law enforcement agencies.

You can put a lot of resources into preventing a data breach. But one of the new employees may not know about the IT policy. And can fall victim to a phishing email. Knowing about Phishing and how to identify a phishing website is essential. Employees should do due diligence before visiting such websites.

Organizations should purchase cheap SSL certificates to prevent criminals from hijacking their domain names. In this article, we have discussed phishing and how to identify a phishing website. We have also discussed some ways to protect ourselves from phishing emails and let you know what steps to take if we fall victim to them.