most common that exist. It’s easy for hackers to do, and therein lies its effectivenesssince it appeals to the fear and ingenuity of the possible victim to steal personal data.
This method of attack is applies mainly through emails that arrive at any addresson any platform and, of course, It is not the exception for more forms of security that it may have.
To prevent falling for this type of scamwe will explain more details what it is about, how it can be avoided and what Gmail is doing to help fight this attack model.
What is phishing and what are the risks of suffering it in Gmail?
This is a very common cyberattack model that affects users of email services. Their goal is to trick the user into providing important data., credentials and credit card numbers. The most common method is to send a message to the potential victim from an email address that impersonates a trusted person or company.
The written message is intended to scare the user, calling him to immediate action to avoid suffering any consequences. This attack model is simple, effective and widely used, since in many cases links are included that lead to pages that are very well made imitations of the originals On these pages, users are requested to enter usernames, passwords and bank information, among other data that the attacker can use to access the victim’s accounts or sell on the black market.
Phishing is mainly applied to emails and text messages, since they are more difficult to track and offer easier to impersonate the identity of a company or individual that serves the purpose of the attacker. Because Gmail is used by millions of people, this form of crime is extremely common, so it is necessary for both the user and the provider to take appropriate measures to prevent this crime.
What are the main methods used to phish email services?
There are so many methods for this type of crime, that it has spread beyond email, to the point that a phisher can even reach your WhatsApp inbox or your text messages. Despite this, the method that offers the most tools for the attacker is emailsince it allows you to redirect the user to a page that could endanger the integrity of their data.
With this in mind, the most common methods of phishing in email services are the following:
- spear phishing: It is a phishing method in which an attacker pursues a particular target, which can be a person, an organization, or a position within a company. The attacker sends the target an email that includes a large amount of information about the latter, with the aim of making him believe that she knows him, and stealing personal information to sell on the black market.
- Pharming: This variant involves sending a phishing email that includes a link to a surrogate page created by the hacker to trick the target into thinking it is the desired page. Their goal is to steal credentials to sell or use for phishing. It is generally used in search of stealing bank access data.
- Whaling: this method is more based on spoofing. The attacker pretends to be a boss, executive or authority figure of a well-known company. The message seems to come from said person and tells a very realistic story, which aims to make the target drop their guard to request money.
Learn step by step the best tips and strategies to avoid suffering from phishing in your Gmail email account
Regardless of what Google has taken steps to make it easier to identify phishing emails in the service of Gmail, it is necessary to review the necessary strategies to avoid falling into a scam.
Since the scammers’ methodology is similar and applicable to any email service, these strategies work the same way to detect a phishing email, no matter which email service you use:
Verify source account
The first step is make sure that the email that contacts you You are not impersonating an identity. To verify this andIt is necessary to identify if the email account that contacts you is personal or from a company.
Usually, a phisher will choose to impersonate someone known to the target, or a known company. In the first case, the ideal is to contact the sender to make sure that they are who they say they are. In case of a company, In general, the best known have contact numbers, and their email addresses are published on the internet, so you can check if the address that contacted you is official or not.
Look for misspellings and other signs
The novice scammers or the most careless tend to allow a spelling mistake to creep into their texts, so it is always useful to read the message carefully and look for any misspellings. In addition to that, there are signs such as non-personalized greetings, a signature without company contact information and the usually urgent tone of the message that give away a phishing message.
Among the main indicators to which we must be attentive, we can mention the following:
- The message indicates an attempted suspicious activity.
- urges the user to confirm personal data.
- Offer a coupon for a free prize.
- Attach an account or a link to make a payment.
Mark indicator for message identification
Google has developed a technology for your Gmail application which is very useful in combating phishing, as it makes it easier to differentiate a legitimate business email from a potential scam. It’s all about the technology “brand indicators for message identification”summarized as BIMI by acronym in English, and consists of identifying messages from verified companies with a logo, which differentiates them from an email created by a phisher.
check links
In certain cases, messages sent by a scammer They will contain links to pages where you can steal your banking information or any other type of information. These links will be hidden by means of a hypertext.
For these situations, hover over the hypertext, without clicking, in order to verify that the link is related to the company that sends us the email. Another verification method is to copy the link and run it through a malware detection page such as virustotal.com. On this site you can verify the security of the link.
Avoid attachments
If you receive a message from an unfamiliar or suspicious sender, and it includes nasalized attachments, do not download or open it under any circumstances, since they may contain malware designed to spy on your activities. To avoid this mode of attack, it is recommended to keep your operating system and applications secure. (firewall and antivirus) updated at all times, and run the files through these applications to verify that they are safe.
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