{"id":3371,"date":"2014-08-26T21:36:18","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T21:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/2014\/08\/26\/identifying-phishing-scams\/"},"modified":"2022-08-05T12:44:57","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T16:44:57","slug":"identifying-phishing-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/security\/identifying-phishing-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding Phishing Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past few years, malicious internet and e-mail activity has increased exponentially. Included in this malicious activity are <strong>phishing scams<\/strong>. The following article discusses the definition of \u201cphishing\u201d and provides information and best practices on how to avoid being taken in by these scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Phishing<\/strong> is the attempt to gather private information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by impersonating a trustworthy source via electronic communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are some best practices to protect yourself from falling victim to phishing scams?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Never assume the e-mail sender is who they say they are.<\/li><li>Never reply to an e-mail with your full credit card details.<\/li><li>Never submit private information via a webpage linked to from an e-mail.<\/li><li>Always log into your vendor accounts as you normally would and <u><b>NOT<\/b><\/u> by clicking the link in the e-mail.<\/li><li>Always call vendors of yours by the phone number on their main website, <b>NOT<\/b> from a phone number in the e-mail, or on a site linked to from the e-mail.<\/li><li>Follow your gut. If it doesn\u2019t seem right, assume it\u2019s not and verify by standard communications with your vendor.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Identify That You\u2019re on a Secure Site<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The following screenshots give you an idea of how several major web browsers identify a secure site. Make sure that you are familiar with how your web browser identifies this situation as it can indicate if your data is being transmitted securely or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><b>Internet Explorer<\/b> identifies a secure page with a green bar and a padlock symbol. <figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/support\/images\/stories\/avoid-phishing\/ie-secure-page.png\" alt=\"Internet Explorer Secure page\"><\/figure><div style=\"clear: both;\"><li><p><b>Mozilla\u2019s Firefox<\/b> browser may differ based on the theme, but you will see a padlock next to the \u201chttps:\u201d portion in gray before the URL.<\/p><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/support\/images\/stories\/avoid-phishing\/firefox-secure-site.png\" alt=\"Mozilla Firefox Secure page\"><\/figure><div style=\"clear: both;\"><li> <b style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial;\">Google\u2019s Chrome<\/b><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial;\"> browser follows the same convention as the <\/span><b style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial;\">Internet Explorer<\/b><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial;\"> in using a green bar and padlock.<\/span> <figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/support\/images\/stories\/avoid-phishing\/chrome-secure-page.png\" alt=\"Google Chrome Secure page\"><\/figure><div style=\"clear: both;\"><li>If you\u2019re running an Apple computer, then you will most likely be using the <b style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial;\">Safari<\/b><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial;\"> browser. They indicate a secure page the same as <\/span><b style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial;\">Internet Explorer<\/b><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial;\"> and <\/span><b style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial;\">Google Chrome<\/b><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial;\">, using a green bar and padlock symbol.<\/span> <figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/support\/images\/stories\/avoid-phishing\/safari-secure-page.png\" alt=\"Apple Safari Secure page\"><\/figure><div style=\"clear: both;\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Identifying Links Within an Email<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Phishing e-mails will often be <a href=\"\/support\/email\/spf-records-guide\/\">\u201cspoofed\u201d<\/a> to appear as if they are coming from a trustworthy e-mail address, but upon closer inspection they are not. If you are looking at an email and something doesn\u2019t seem right, make sure to look at the email header in full. You will be able to identify the source of the email in the header. In some cases it may be using an <a href=\"\/support\/email\/ip-addresses-in-email-headers\/\">IP address<\/a> to disguise its point of origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A good rule of thumb is to confirm that the link you\u2019re clicking on within an email matches the domain you\u2019re expecting. (i.e. <i>If your vendor\u2019s website is <b>\u201cmyinsurancevendor.com\u201d<\/b>, a phishing e-mail may send you to a malicious link similar to: <b>myinsurancevendor.com<\/b> like <b>otherinsurancevendor.com\/paymentinfo<\/b><\/i>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"\/support\/images\/stories\/avoid-phishing\/bad-email-link.png\" rel=\"lightbox-0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/support\/images\/stories\/avoid-phishing\/bad-email-link.png\" alt=\"Email link\"><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Make sure that you carefully scrutinize links that you use within an email. If you are not 100% sure of the source of the email, then you should not click on the links provided within the email. You can identify the URL used inside an email by hovering over the link. Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"\/support\/images\/stories\/avoid-phishing\/email-link.png\" rel=\"lightbox-0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/support\/images\/stories\/avoid-phishing\/email-link.png\" alt=\"Email link\"><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If the URL of the link looks like it\u2019s at least going to the correct domain name, then the link is typically okay. However, if you have any doubts, don\u2019t click on it. If you require further assistance with this issue, please contact our <a href=\"\/support\/amp\/how-to-get-great-technical-support\/\">technical support team available 24\/7<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other Examples of Phishing Scams<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/email\/scam-email-on-this-day-i-hacked-your-os\/\">How to Deal With the \u201con this day I hacked your OS\u201d Phishing Scam Email<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/security\/phishing-scam-fatal-error-data-lost\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2878\">Phishing Scam: Fatal ERROR! Data lost risk<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div><\/li><\/div><\/li><\/div><\/li><\/div><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past few years, malicious internet and e-mail activity has increased exponentially. Included in this malicious activity are phishing scams. The following article discusses the definition of \u201cphishing\u201d and provides information and best practices on how to avoid being taken in by these scams. Phishing is the attempt to gather private information, such as<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/security\/identifying-phishing-scams\/\"> Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4299],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Avoiding Phishing Scams | InMotion Hosting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this guide you will learn how to identify secure sites and other methods for avoiding phishing scams.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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