What is phishing? It is pronounced like fishing. And it is similar to what you do when you fish. Hackers use bait to see if you’ll bite. And once you’re on the hook, you then become compromised and hacked.
Phishing is used mainly in emails but can also be found in search engines when you are searching or visiting a website. They can come in a form of an email, or they can show up as a pop-up. The purpose of a hacker creating the bait is for you to either click on the email and or click on the pop-up. The email or pop-up could have malware or a virus attached to it.
The emails could mirror someone or a company that you are familiar with getting emails from. The hackers do this so that your mind sees the email as a non-threat. It is always good, before clicking on an email, to look at the email extension. Even though the email appears to be from someone you know the email extension could be from an email address that is unknown. Most hackers will have an attachment on the email hoping that you take the next steps to click on the attachment. An example of this would be you getting an email from someone in your office, which is really not from someone in your office, that has an attachment of “review report”. Once you’ve been compromised and hacked your system could be down not just for hours but for days. Depending on what type of malware or virus you downloaded.
When you see a pop up while searching on Google or you are on a website it may look like an ad. The ad could mirror a company that you view or visit their site often. The ad could be of a sale wanting you to click to view the sale or it could be of a warning stating you need to update software. If you are getting multiple pop-ups, then you definitely need to get your computer looked at. You can actually block pop-ups from appearing on your computer. Any software update you may need that pop-ups should be reviewed by your I.T. support team prior to clicking on anything. You want to avoid clicking on pop-ups because they can be from a hacker.
We don’t stop to think about ways a hacker can get to us. And we always think “this will never happen to us”. Hackers do not care how small or large your business is. They target individuals just as much as they can target a business. They easiest way to get hacked is by email and a pop up. So, before you click on an email, open an attachment, or click on a pop-up think before you click. It only takes a few seconds to be mindful. However, it can take hours, days, and or weeks to resolve your issue once compromised and hacked. Which leads to loss of time and loss of money.