Suspicious/ Phishing Email and Guidelines to Protect

We are receiving many emails in our daily correspondence and many seems suspicious. Some emails might be phishing. Some email having attachments which contains malicious program and viruses also. Don’t respond to the email if it looks suspicious.

Below are the time when we are receiving suspicious mails very often; 

• A particular problem that seriously affects many people at the same time: (Covid19)
• At the time after Natural disasters
• Holidays of Diwali or Christmas
• Political election

How to Identify a Phishing Email?

• Email having link and asking for usernames, passwords, and/or PINs. They try to seeking your personal information, including log-in information to a website.
• Request for personal information.
• Message body is an image.
• Email having suspicious attachments.
• The sender address isn’t correct or you don’t know the address.
• The sender name is unclear character and the sender’s email address is long or difficult to understand.
• The email subject line is attention-seeking or alarmist.
• The email urges immediate action of some kind -like Email Quota full, Password Expires today.

Below are some guidelines to protect yourself against this threats when phishing or suspicious emails arrives in your mail box.

• If you think email you have received is looks like phishing, look closely the senders email address not the sender’s name. Seders name may be similar as your contacts in address book of official business name.
• Don’t open any links especially if the email takes to a website and asking any information. 
• Do not reply to the suspicious email. 
• Contact your IT team immediately and ask them for checking the emails contents and links before taking any action.
• Be careful by not replying to any spam mails that ask you to confirm or update any information about your email account.
• Do not click on any links that comes with the spam mail, which will lead you to website that ask for confirmation of your account information.
• Never copy and paste an unknown link from these kinds of spam mails on your web browsers. These links look very humble by the phishers but they will actually land you to some fraud sites.
• Don’t open any attachments, which can install harmful malware.
• Be careful by open or save any document or attachment that come with spam mail. Never trust these kinds of emails.
• Never share your confidential information about your account in an email if asked by sender.
• Firewall, antivirus software and anti-spyware protect you from these scams. Regularly update this software for security of your laptop or computer.
• Never respond to those mails, which offers you for business opportunity or ask you to get a refund.

Below are some Examples/ Screenshots of phishing or suspicious emails.