It is no secret to anyone that, as well as the Internet provides endless benefits to its large number of users, It also reveals certain risks that are important to take into account when making a web browsing experience.. As, more and more cybercriminals or hackers in search of fulfilling its tasks.
In this sense, one of the most notable dangers on the Internet, undoubtedly, refers to that digital scam based on the sending of emails by a "recognized" institution, company or company that is truly false. This, in order to impersonate your identity.
Therefore, to avoid falling victim to such types of digital threats, it is important to know what is the famous "Phishing" about, how you can protect yourself from this practice on the Internet and What should you do if you are a victim of such an identity theft?.
What is phishing and what are the risks of this attack?
Basically phishing scams also known as "phishing", consist of a very common method that used to carry out identity theft over the Internet.
Thus, in general, it happens when the scammer or cybercriminal manages to obtain a private data or requirement from the victim to access its "properties". In this way, this danger in the network can be defined as a type of deception in which hackers do their best to get users to hand over their private information, especially passwords and social security numbers.
Taking into account that, the most common way to achieve it, it is from the "Email Phishing". For its part, Email Phishing is a practice by which the user or victim you receive an email from an alleged brand or identity, which looks very real because it appears to be from a reliable source and thus, through it, request a series of personal data. Therefore, if said user chooses to fill in the required fields, will deliver the necessary data to these criminals to carry out their misdeeds.
Now, in global terms, it has been pointed out that this practice of identity theft on the Internet It is one of the most common criminal actions that exist today. Since, hackers use it to make purchases online with the victim's billing information, make transfers to their own accounts without any permission, make openings in banking services, register a public service or even, carry out damage online by impersonating the affected person.
Thus, the damages caused to victims by identity theft range from the following:
- Partial or total loss of access to your email.
- Breakdowns in your services banking or private.
- Serious consequences of type penal.
- Economic losses truly substantial.
Learn how to protect yourself from phishing with these tips
As you will see, these kinds of scams can generate very serious consequences for their victims. In particular, because digital criminals are adept at carrying out this electronic fraud and easily fool users. Above all, because in addition to use emails to appear to be an organization legitimateThey also use other methods to achieve their cruel mission.
Either via telephone manipulating the caller ID to show the real number of a company, through social networks with posts or direct messages, sending unsuspected text messages, etc. Thus, it is essential to know how to be aware of identity theft on the network, in order to safeguard all your personal or private information and not fall into the clutches of these hackers.
For which, we present some recommendations of great interest that you should implement, below:
Avoid opening emails from unknown addresses
Because the "Phishers" mostly operate through emails, it is decisive to choose do not open any emails from strangers. Since, in this way these criminals will force you to redirect your internet experience to fraudulent sites.
Consequently, whenever you receive a suspicious or anonymous email, ideally, do not click on any link, do not respond and much less, provide your personal or bank information. Taking into account that, although they can imitate certain real companies or brands very well, these emails do not display the normal entity header, generally.
Be aware of some warning signs
Just as you must stay alert when receiving an email from an unknown or suspicious address, it is also important that you look at certain signs of interest that mark a notable alert within an email.
Next, we mention each of these signals:
- If they use imprecise or generic language to raise a problem regarding your bank details or a purchase process. Like, for example, the following sentence: “problem with your payment”.
- If the email received contains a message like "Dear customer" just, it is also a sign to be suspicious. Since, legitimate companies commonly include your name in the greeting, if you are a customer.
- If you notice multiple grammar errors throughout the message, you must be alert. Because many scams of this kind originate from abroad and may use poor quality translators to communicate with you.
- If there are requests to click a link, open an attached document or fill in fields with your personal or financial information for any reason, without a doubt, it may be a phishing practice.
- If they send you free services, product offers, a lottery prize or a very cheap trip, it is also a great sign that some hacker is stalking you.
Use two-step verification or two-factor authentication
Today, two-step verification is one of the systems of security most recommended on the net. Since, it has the ability to add an extra step when logging in to a certain web account or app, beyond just entering the correct password.
Consequently, this technology manages to superimpose an extra layer of protection and security, in order to make it much more complicated for a third party or hacker to have access to your account, without prior permission. Whereas, this measure of security requires a code obtained through an application or text message, to have access to the service in question. Thus, "Phishers" they will not be able to achieve their goal.
Install a professional antivirus on your computer
Nowadays, there are many antivirus software with the ability to prevent phishing while browsing the net. Therefore, it is ideal that you choose to hire the services of a professional antivirus that has this feature in order to obtain an additional layer of security.
In this way, apart from having the protection of a program exclusively dedicated to it, it also you can optimize the security of your computer or mobile device in general terms. Either ensuring the latest updates and improving the experience around the operating system and any web browser.
Other important forecasts
- Do not reveal your personal or banking information through phone calls made by alleged government agencies, recognized companies, banks or public service companies. Especially if they offer free and on-sale products or services.
- Do not pay attention to certain pop-up notices that appear on your computer or mobile that warn of a virus, redirect you to another website or promise permissions. For this, it is best not to access them and use a quality antivirus or ad blocker to suppress them immediately.
- Periodically, make sure to vary or change the passwords of your accounts on the Internet. This tactic can minimize the damage if you are a victim of identity theft and / or prevent a leak of your data.
- Make a constant review of all those accounts where there is the possibility of money movement. That is, those referring to banking entities, PayPal, Amazon or other electronic services of that type. Which will allow you to check if someone has stolen money or made transfers without your consent.
What to do if I am already a victim of phishing? Where can you report it?
In case it is too late and you have suffered the serious consequences of phishing as a powerful electronic scam, You will wonder what you should do during this circumstance or where you can report it, if there is a possibility. Well, in the first instance, if you discover that you have been the target of this type of cyber attack in a short period of time, it is best to remove the hacker from your account immediately. That is, change the password of the same to try to minimize the damage.
Besides that, check if the perpetrator has modified any account settings (forwarding emails to another address, secondary email, etc.), in order to change all this and make sure they no longer have access for any reason. In addition to this, if the phishing attack has occurred from your Gmail email account, Google It allows you to make a report to analyze the email by means of a copy and protect yourself against inappropriate use or spam.
Said complaint requires the following steps: Enter your Gmail account> Open the fraudulent message> Click on "More"> Select the option "Report identity theft". For its part, in view of the numerous risks existing in the network for users, nowadays many countries promote the safety of these users and make use of their bodies for it.
Therefore, if your locality works to abolish this type of identity theft scams, you can proceed to file the complaint with the state security forces and bodies. Especially, if they have caused damage with respect to your services in banking entities or public services.