DON T BE FOOLED BY SPAM FREE GUIDE. Provided by: Don t Be Fooled by Spam FREE GUIDE. December 2014 Oliver James Enterprise

Transcription

1 Provided by: December 2014 Oliver James Enterprise DON T BE FOOLED BY SPAM FREE GUIDE 1

2 This guide will teach you: How to spot fraudulent and spam s How spammers obtain your address How to stop spam Examples of scams 2

3 is undoubtedly an excellent communication tool and also a way that companies Source: Pingdom.com DON T BE FOOLED BY SPAM FREE GUIDE BY OLIVER JAMES ENTERPRISE can inform you about their latest products and services. However, is frequently used to deliver unwanted material which is at best, annoying and at worst, malicious causing considerable harm to your computer and yourself. This guide will outline what you can do to tackle the on going problem of spam. Once you know the signs you can make better informed decisions about what s you open or delete spam, also known as junk or unsolicited bulk (UBE), is a subset of electronic spam involving nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by . Clicking on links in spam may send users to phishing web sites or sites that are hosting malware. Spam may also include malware as scripts or other executable file attachments. spam has steadily grown since the early 1990s. Botnets, networks of virusinfected computers, are used to send about 80% of spam. Since the expense of the spam is borne mostly by the recipient, it is effectively postage due advertising. Spammers collect addresses from chatrooms, websites, customer lists, newsgroups, and viruses which harvest users' address books, and are sold to other spammers. of spam is in English but is becoming more international rapidly. of all spam is from botnets (which are networks of compromised PCs). of all spam contains a form of link. of all spam is related to pharmaceutical products. s contain malware. s are phishing s. 3 December 2014 Oliver James Enterprise

4 Types of spam scams : offering deals too good to be true Phishing: seeking personal & financial details Spoofing: s sent from forged sender addresses Blank Spam: s lacking any information 4

5 Where do spammers get my from? Using automated software to generate addresses. Enticing people to enter their details on fraudulent websites. Hacking into legitimate websites to gather users details. Buying lists from other spammers. Inviting people to click through to fraudulent websites posing as spam cancellation services. From names/addresses in the cc line, or in the body of s which have been forwarded and the previous participants have not been deleted. The very act of replying to a spam confirms to spammers that your address exists. 5

6 Scams December 2014 Oliver James Enterprise Not every spam is a scam Scams are generally delivered in the form of a spam . However, not every you receive which is spam may be a scam. Scams are designed to trick you into disclosing information that will lead to defrauding you or stealing your identity. It might be in the form of making you click a link or getting you to complete a form which in turn requests too much information from you. Examples of scams include: s offering financial, physical or emotional benefits, which are in reality linked to a wide variety of frauds. These include s posing as being from trusted sources such as your bank, the Inland Revenue or anywhere else that you have an online account. They ask you to click on a link and then disclose personal information. Risks from receiving spam include: The may contain viruses and spyware The may be trying to steal information from you via a phishing attack The may contain offensive imagery The may be trying to steal your financial information 6

7 Phishing expecting a verification within minutes) December 2014 Oliver James Enterprise Don t get caught out by phishing Phishing is the attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, banks, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure unsuspecting public. Phishing s may contain links to websites that are infected with malware. Phishing is typically carried out by spoofing or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to deceive users, and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies. Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures. Many websites have now created secondary tools for applications, like maps for games, but they should be clearly marked as to who wrote them, and you should not use the same passwords anywhere on the Internet. How to spot a phishing Always be suspicious of any asking you to verify an account (unless you just signed up to a website and are Has the sent come out of the blue? Hover over any links in the until you can see the link pop up and examine the website address provided. Ask yourself, does it look legitimate? Is the creating a sense of panic? Does the have a suspicious attachment? 7

8 Phishing Continued December 2014 Oliver James Enterprise How to spot a phishing continued: The itself can also look as if it comes from a genuine source. Fake s often (but not always) display some of the following characteristics: The sender s address is different from the trusted organisation s website address. The is sent from a completely different address or a free webmail address. The does not use your proper name, but uses a non-specific greeting such as Dear customer. The directly asks for personal information. You weren t expecting to get an from the organisation which has sent it. 8 December 2014 Oliver James Enterprise

9 How to spot spam Spam is no longer that easy to spot. Here are some things you must look out for when you think an might be spam: Spot the warning signs before it s too late Spam is full of clues relating to it s authenticity. Before you even open the it may contain valuable clues which will help you avoid the pitfalls of opening a malicious and becoming a victim of phishing or malicious software: FOCUS: Do you know who the sender is? Does the title and content contain misspellings of obvious words? Is the offer too good to be true in the ? Does the contain a request to forward the mail onto numerous people for something to happen and come true for you in the future? Does the contain a sob story from someone requesting money? Does the request you to BUY NOW? Does the domain name of the address mis-match the domain of the alleged sender? E.g. be allegedly sent from BT which is has their domain at bt.com but sent actually from bt@phishme.com. Always check who has sent the as this is one of the major clues. 9

10 Spam examples The SEO Spam: E-Cigarette Scam: 10

11 More examples Bank Mail Spam: 8 things your bank will never ask you to do 1. Call or to ask you for your full PIN number or any online banking passwords 2. Send someone to your home to collect cash, bank cards or anything else 3. Ask you to or text personal or banking information 4. Send an with a link to a page which asks you to enter your online banking log-in details 5. Ask you to authorise the transfer of funds to a new account or hand over cash 6. Call to advise you to buy diamonds or land or other commodities 7..Ask you to carry out a test transaction online 8. Provide banking services through any mobile apps other than the bank s official apps 11

12 10 ways to prevent getting spam 1. Do not open s which you suspect as being spam. 2. Do not forward s which you suspect as being spam. 3. Do not open attachments from unknown sources. 4. Do not readily click on links in s from unknown sources. Instead, roll your mouse pointer over the link to reveal its true destination, displayed in the bottom left corner of your screen. Beware if this is different from what is displayed in the text of the link from the Do not respond to s from unknown sources. 6. Do not make purchases or charity donations in response to spam Don t click on remove or reply to unwanted Check junk mail folders regularly in case a legitimate gets through by mistake. 9. When sending s to multiple recipients, list their addresses in the 'BCC' (blind copy) box instead of in the 'To' box. In this way, no recipient will see the names of the others, and if their addresses fall into the wrong hands there will be less chance of you or anybody else receiving phishing or spam s 10. Delete all addresses of previous parties in the string, before forwarding or replying. 12

13 Are you worried about IT security? Get in touch with OJE For more on online marketing, web design and development, visit 13

14 FREE GUIDE PROVIDED BY: 14