How do I spot a phishing email:
- Phishing emails often ask for sensitive information and money transfers and include a sense of urgency to get you to act without thinking.
- As they often originate from a foreign country, phishing emails may contain obvious spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.
- The visible sender address may not match that of the expected email address. This can be faked, so even if it does match you need to be cautious.
- In order to get you to act phishing emails often appear to originate from senior people in an organisation; Exec or Board members for example.
- If a request is unusual, unexpected or simply doesn’t feel right it may be a sign the email is fake.
What action should I take:
- If something doesn’t look right take your time, seek advice from another Colleague or IT Service Desk.
- If the email appears to be from someone you know but you’re unsure if its real, don’t reply but contact them through a separate email or via telephone. If it’s a legitimate request they won’t mind. If it’s fake, they’ll thank you!
- Try not to click on any links or open any attachments. If you do, don’t worry, just report it to the IT Service Desk and they’ll check everything is ok.
- Report any suspicious emails to the IT Service Desk through a Fresh ticket and they investigate and take steps to prevent further emails.
- If you have responded and then realise something isn’t right, just report it as an Fresh incident and it will be investigated.