October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. It’s a time we are all called to consider our role in staying safe online, especially when it comes to the #1 source of cybercrime - email phishing. The volume of phishing emails has been increasing in strength for years. In fact, it’s estimated that 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent out each day, worldwide.1
Can You Spot a Phishing Email?
The National Cybersecurity Alliance agrees, the signs of a phishing email can be subtle, but once you recognize a phishing attempt you can avoid falling for it. Before clicking any links or downloading attachments, take a few seconds to ensure the email looks legit. Here are some quick tips on how to clearly spot a phishing email:2
-
Does it contain an offer that’s too good to be true?
-
Does it include language that’s urgent, alarming, or threatening?
-
Is it poorly crafted writing riddled with misspellings and bad grammar?
-
Is the greeting ambiguous or very generic?
-
Does it include requests to send personal information?
-
Does it stress an urgency to click on an unfamiliar hyperlinks or attachment?
-
Is it a strange or abrupt business request?
-
Does the sender’s e-mail address match the company it’s coming from? Look for little misspellings like pavpal.com or anazon.com.
I See a Phishing Email. What Do I Do?
Don’t worry, you’ve already done the hard part, which is recognizing that an email is fake and part of a criminal’s phishing expedition.
If you’re at the office and the email came to your work email address, report it to your IT manager or security officer as quickly as possible. However, if your company uses a third-party email security platform, chances are good that the email was already flagged for you. Still, most top email security platforms have a “report this email” option, so take a second to report or confirm the phishing email.
If the email came to your personal email address, don’t do what it says. Do not click on any links – even the unsubscribe link – or reply back to the email. Just use that delete button. Remember, DON’T CLICK ON LINKS, JUST DELETE.
Adding an Advanced Level of Email Phishing Prevention to Your Security Platform
Regardless of how good you become a spotting phishing scams, there are still plenty of phish that no human eye could detect. That’s where a third-party email security platform becomes critical. By adding an advanced level of email phishing prevention to your security platform, your company avoids falling prey to cybercrime. INKY not only detects Account Takeovers using stylometry, we also use an unprecedented combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision to stop phishing emails and keep your company safe.
INKY catches phishing emails the human eye could never see. Now is the perfect time to speak with your Managed Service Provider (MSP) about the many benefits of adding INKY to your security stack. offers:
- Inbound Mail Protection
- Outbound Mail Protection
- Internal Mail Protection
- Advanced Attachment Analysis
- Email Encryption
- Graymail Protection
- Phishing Simulation and Security Awareness Training
----------------------
INKY is an award-winning, behavioral email security platform that blocks phishing threats, prevents data leaks, and coaches users to make smart decisions. Like a cybersecurity coach, INKY signals suspicious behaviors with interactive email banners that guide users to take safe action on any device or email client. IT teams don’t face the burden of filtering every email themselves or maintaining multiple systems. Through powerful technology and intuitive user engagement, INKY keeps phishers out for good. Learn why so many companies trust the security of their email to INKY. Request an online demonstration today.
1Source: https://earthweb.com/how-many-phishing-emails-are-sent-daily/
2Source: copy shared directly from resources shared at https://staysafeonline.org/theft-fraud-cybercrime/phishing/