Protect yourself from Phishing Scams
Sunday, January 6th, 2008What is a “Phishing Scam”? In computing, a Phishing Scam is an attempt to fraudulently and/or criminally acquire information that may be sensitive, such as passwords, credit card details, etc, by disguising yourself as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Phishing is typically carried out by email or instant messaging. Phishing is basically a way to fool users into divulging sensitive information.
How can you keep safe? Well, is easy, just follow these useful steps:
- If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply and close it immediately. Do not click on any links that you aren’t sure of. Phishers can make links look like they go to one place, but that actually send you to a different site. Legitimate companies don’t ask for this kind of sensitive information via email.
- Make sure you have a up to date firewall and anti-virus. A firewall is a great way to protect yourself from hackers and unauthorized users. Anti-virus is also a great way to do the same, and to keep you from downloading viruses by accident.
- Try to review your credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for any charges that you didn’t authorize.
- Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails you receive, regardless of who sent them. Even if the email is from somebody you know and trust, they may have gotten a virus and the virus could have used his/her email to send out other viruses.
Its not much, but it sure helps.