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Protection from Phishing Attacks

Phishing Attacks: I remember something funny happened not so long ago. I got an email saying my PayPal account had some discrepancies. The mail instructed me to click on a link and provide some information. So the issue would be rectified or forfeit the account and my money.

I was fortunate to know what phishing meant at the time, else, I would have taken the bait and lost a lot of money. Today I’m going to tell you about phishing and how to get protection from phishing attacks.

So, what is phishing?

Phishing is a type of fraud that involves getting sensitive information from people by disguising as a representative of an organization or business entity that they have a connection to.

The phisher claims to be something he’s not so. As to trick unsuspecting people into sharing sensitive information that could lead to loss of money and so on. The sensitive information they target includes credit card details, usernames and passwords, and so on.

Phishing PayPal

Scammers don’t only use emails to target people, phishing attacks can come from anywhere; it could come through your social media pages, company account or cloud storage facilities. The phishing attack on me came through email, the email I got about some irregularities on my PayPal attempted to redirect me to payapal.com.

How many types of phishing are there?

There are many different types of phishing that scammers use. Many people are aware of some of them while many have never encountered any. Of the many types of phishing we have, the most common types include:

• Deceptive Phishing

This type of phishing scam is more common than the others. The scammers send emails that misrepresent them as legitimate representatives of the company they claim they are from. The emails often claim there is an issue on the target’s account that needs to be fixed urgently.

The goal is to get the target to click on a link that leads to a fake page where the target’s login details can be stolen. A good example of this is the experience I recounted in the first paragraph of this article.

• Spear Phishing

This type of phishing scam is often more personalized to the recipient of the scam email. The phisher tries to use as much information about the target. As he can get to convince him of his own authenticity.

The aim here is also to get the target to click on a link that leads to a fake page so that the target can provide his login details. Targets of this phishing type are usually people with professional LinkedIn profiles.

• Google Docs Phishing

This phishing type is often targeted towards people who use google drive. The phishing attempt could come in the form of an invitation to view a document or file on google docs. This invitation then leads to a fake login page where the user’s username, password, and other sensitive information can be stolen.

• Dropbox Phishing

Dropbox phishing is similar to google docs phishing in that; the same method is used to harvest usernames and passwords from unsuspecting users on the cloud storage platform.

The popularity and purpose of the platform make it a juicy target for phishers. The phishing attacks range from emails to fake login pages that steal sensitive information from users.

• Pharming

Pharming is an advanced form of phishing. It can trick the most vigilant internet user into giving away his information unknowingly. This form of phishing involves tweaking the IP address of popular websites. So that even when the user gets the web address right, he can still end up on a fake page.

People who already know how to identify fraudulent emails can still be scammed with this method, that’s why a good phishing protection software is important.

• Whaling

This type of phishing attack is similar to spear phishing. The only difference is that the people targeted by whaling phishers are top executives and CEOs.

Once their emails and other corporate accounts have been compromised, the phisher then uses their positions of authority to authorize fraudulent transactions. The compromised accounts can also be used to trick employees within the same organization to make payments to the phisher’s financial institution.

These are just a few types of phishing attacks that can be experienced online.

How to get protection from Phishing Attacks

With all these phishing threats online, it is important to get protection against phishing. It may sometimes not be enough to be vigilant, the best way to ensure that is to get a phishing protection software.

The best software to ensure email phishing protection and all-around safety from phishing attempts online is DuoCircle – Phishing Protection Service. With DuoCircle, you’ll get click and phishing protection in real-time. That means you will never be caught unawares by any phishing attempt.