What is Phishing?
What is phishing link , Phishing is a type of hacking method which basically uses deceptive techniques to steal user data, such as login information, credit card numbers, etc. Usually an attacker or hacker disguises himself and manages to get a victim to click on a link sent in an email or message. This is basically how phishing attacks are
Phishing attacks are also carried out as part of a larger attack on a corporate or government network. When an employee inadvertently clicks on a malicious link, the attacker gains access to the network.
This type of phishing attack can cause serious problems for an organization. Organizations affected by phishing attacks lose market share, reputation, consumer trust, etc. Since phishing attacks occur for security reasons, the customer’s trust in the organization’s security is compromised. We have seen many such incidents in the past.
Cybercriminals employ phony emails, websites, or messages to deceive people into disclosing sensitive information like login passwords, credit card details, or personal information. This is known as a phishing attack.
Always exercise caution when clicking on links, especially if they originate from unreliable or dubious sources. Do not open any attachments or click on any links in questionable emails or messages. Instead, report it to the relevant authorities or get in touch with the business the communication purports to be from to confirm its legitimacy.
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What is Phishing link?
Phishing attempts are sometimes used as part of a bigger assault on a government or corporate network. A malicious link is accidentally clicked by an employee, giving the attacker access to the network.
An organization may have significant issues as a result of this kind of phishing attack. Phishing attacks cause businesses to lose market share, reputation, customer trust, etc. The customer’s confidence in the security of the company is undermined since phishing assaults happen for security reasons. Such occurrences have occurred frequently in the past.
To trick consumers into providing critical information like login passwords, credit card numbers, or personal information, cybercriminals use fake emails, websites, or texts. This is an instance of phishing.
Examples of Phishing Attacks
Let’s look at an example to understand a phishing attack. Many students of the same university were sent emails from an email address that looked like the university’s email, informing them that their passwords had expired. It will also be written that if the account password is not renewed within 24 hours, the account will be locked.
After clicking on the password reset link, students will see an almost real password reset page. The current and new passwords will then be requested, which once provided will be stolen and used to illegally access the student’s original account. Also after clicking on the link, malicious scripts can be installed in the browser through redirects, thereby hijacking the user’s session cookies.
Similarly, the link sent with the name of Facebook password reset may also show a page that looks like Facebook where your Facebook account can be hacked if you enter the password. In this way, by showing fake sites, users are fooled and important information is stolen by phishing.
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Phishing Techniques
Phishing attacks can take many forms. Let’s learn about the common phishing techniques through which a hacker carries out a phishing attack. There are many tips of phishing attacks such as spear phishing, phishing attack, phishing email, phishing link and any other and etc.
Email Phishing
Email phishing is essentially a numbers game. An attacker sends numerous fake and fraudulent emails threatening the victim (victim) with money or account lock. When one of these recipients of numerous emails clicks on the provided link, they become a victim of a phishing attack.
Attackers use the logo, typeface, signature, etc. of the organization to prompt the user to click on the email as part of impersonation of a real organization.
Most of the time the user is pushed to make a quick decision. For example, in the case of account expiry, password change, etc., if action is not taken within the specified period, the problem of account lock is mentioned.
You have to understand very well whether the link or domain sent in these emails is real or fake. For example: facebook.com is a correct and safe domain, from which emails can be opened. Again facebook.com is not a valid email. Here “zero” is used instead of the English letter “o” which looks closer. Fraudsters use many such tricks. So always double check that the address is completely correct before clicking on any link or email.
Spear Phishing
Specific individuals or organizations are selected as targets for spear phishing. Phishing attack is more of an upgraded version where sensitive information about a person or organization is used as leverage in the phishing attack.
An attacker can do things like:
An intruder researches the names of an organization’s marketing department employees and gains access to the latest project invoices
The organization’s marketing director emulates this. Even using the same text, style and logo as the company’s standard email
Clicking on the provided link shows the password protected internal document, which is actually a fake version of the stolen invoice.
You are asked to login to view a document. After logging in, the login information is stolen and used to infiltrate the organization’s network.
How to stay safe from phishing
Whether an individual or an organization, there are some important steps to take to survive a phishing attack. Caution is the key to surviving these problems. Fake messages often contain very small mistakes, such as spelling mistakes, slightly incorrect email addresses, etc. Phishing attacks can be avoided to a large extent if a user takes some time to check before clicking on such a message or email.
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Follow these tips to avoid phishing attacks:
Two-factor authentication makes hacking almost impossible. So use two-factor authentication for any account. Even if the hacker gets the username and password, they will not be able to access the account. And don’t share the OTP code in your message or email to anyone. It will keep you safe from hacking.
Security software should be used in the establishment. Also, these software should be kept updated, so that new security threats can be prevented.
Save data by taking a backup. You can back up to a non-networked medium, such as an external hard drive or cloud storage.
Asking for sensitive information via email can be considered a scam.
Look for spelling and grammatical errors in the email, as professional emails do not contain such errors.
Don’t trust sources that don’t know your name or account information. Be careful if you see a generic greeting, it’s probably a phishing message sent to many people.
Verify everything before clicking on attachments received in emails.
Make sure that the email address of the person or organization from which the email is being sent is correct.
Verify that the site you are accessing is secure. If the URL of the site does not start with “https”, then it is better not to use that site.
Always keep your browser, antivirus and operating system updated to provide the latest virus and malware protection.
You can check if the link is harmful by entering the Virus Total website without clicking on the link found in the suspicious email.
I hope this post helps you stay safe online and learn about tricks to stay safe online. Share your experience and ideas in your comments if this post was helpful to you!
