Sunday, September 13, 2009

Do You Know Where Emails Are Coming From?




Just because an email says it’s from customerservice@yourbank.com, how can you be sure? One of the basic necessities of phishing attacks is an identity thief’s ability to convincingly pretend to be someone else. The core of phishing is impersonation. Identity thieves pretend to be legitimate businesses, organizations, or government agencies when they ask for your personal information. They copy the Web sites of those they are impersonating to trick you into providing your information on the sites. And once they have your information, they impersonate you to gain access to your accounts and create new accounts in your name. Authentication – getting proof that someone is who they claim to be – is key in fighting the battle against phishing.

Many phishing attempts start with an email message that pretends to be from a trusted source, such as a bank or an online merchant. Phishers have figured out ways to make it look like an email comes from a certain email address, when that actually isn’t the case. It may be impossible to tell just by looking at the “From” line in the message whether the sender truly is who it claims to be. So, what’s a consumer to do?

For detailed informationabout what to do visit our Cybersecurty for Seniors website.

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