{"id":27388,"date":"2017-12-05T17:26:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T22:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/?p=27388"},"modified":"2017-12-05T15:29:14","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T20:29:14","slug":"watch-out-for-phishing-attacks-hidden-in-your-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/watch-out-for-phishing-attacks-hidden-in-your-email\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch Out for Phishing Attacks Hidden in Your Email"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most important things you can do to stay safe on the Internet is to be careful while reading email. That\u2019s because online criminals know that we\u2019re all busy, and we often don\u2019t pay enough attention to what we\u2019re reading or where we\u2019re clicking.<\/p>\n

To take advantage of our inattention, these Internet information thieves forge email messages to look like they come from the likes of Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, along with well-known banks, payment services, retailers, and even government agencies. Even more dangerous are messages that appear to come from a trusted individual and include personal details\u2014these messages are often targeted at executives and company managers. Generally speaking, these attacks are called phishing<\/i>\u2014you can see examples here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The goal? Get you to click a link in the message and visit a malicious Web site. That site usually continues to masquerade as being run by a company or organization you trust. Its aim is to sucker you into revealing confidential information by asking you to log in, pay for a product or service, or fill out a survey. The site\u2014or an attachment in the email message\u2014might also try to install malware. Although macOS is quite secure, if you approve security prompts, it can still be infected.<\/p>\n

Although phishing is a huge problem that costs businesses hundreds of millions of dollars every year, you can easily identify phishing messages by looking for telltale signs:<\/p>\n