Phishing occurs when a victim is tricked into handing over their private information under false pretenses. It’s a simple concept that can be executed via simplistic or complex methods. From brand-jacking to targeted spear-phishing attacks – phishers are becoming wiser over time. Grammatical and spelling errors from yesteryear are now carefully edited, and dotted with surreptitiously-crafted socially engineered techniques.
While in the past, phishing attempts were riddled with grammatical errors or were easily identified as linking to malicious content, scammers have changed their tune. –Systems Engineer Michael Cryer of Websense
Phishers can easily disguise themselves as your bank, your boss, your credit card company, or even your cell phone carrier. Phishers are highly adept at infiltrating businesses too.
Often enough, if a cyber criminal gets hold of a victim’s email address, they may create a fake message appearing to come from a trusted source. For instance, if a cybercriminal hacks into your banks database, they may gain access to your email address. They can then send you their phishing message, which is identical or similar to a message your bank would normally send you. These fake messages will often ask you to visit a rogue landing page (again, identical to that of your bank) where they will provide a form that asks for your personal information. Due to the highly tailored nature of these scams, a surprising number of people fall victim to them every day. It’s important to check the URL of any website you visit before giving up personal data. A website’s privacy policy will often tell you which information they may ask you, and what types of data they collect on you.
Email remains the main distribution channel for phishing links
According to KSN [Kaspersky Security Network], phishing links are clicked from mail clients in about 65% of cases, which means email remains the main distribution channel for phishing links. In about 26% of cases phishing links are clicked directly from Internet browsers. These include links clicked on webmail interfaces and social networking sites as well as the links to phishing sites which come out on top in search engine queries due to the use of black SEO technology.
The more information a cybercriminal gains about someone, the easier it becomes for them to obtain login information, bank account credentials, social security numbers and so on. You would be surprised how many people are susceptible to hacks just by what is publicly available online, coupled with some common sense. This is further proof of why it’s so important to remain vigilant when shopping, banking, and browsing online.
Cocoon Mailslots Stop Phishing In It’s Tracks
With Cocoon mailslots, you no longer have to use your personal or business email to gain access to a website that requires registration. You do not have to give your real email address to your bank or department store either. With Cocoon mailslots nothing touches your hard drive. If you inadvertently click a ‘phishing link’ from within Cocoon mailslots – you are protected from all malicious activity.
How Does It Work?
You can also easily change a default email address that you initially created into a mailslot by editing your settings at the site that you registered at. You can conveniently delete mailslots if they have become the playground of phishers, spammers or scammers.
With Cocoon mailslots, you have complete control to:
- Edit mailslot nicknames
- Activate/deactivate a mailslot
- Ability to read, send, and delete messages from the mailslot
- Permanently delete a mailslot (if the account gets spammed – never a problem with Cocoon, just delete the mailslot!)
For more information on Cocoon mailslots please visit our FAQ.
Mailslot Basics | Editing a Mailslot | Deleting a Mailslot
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