Number one tip to protect yourself from phishing scams / online identity theft:
Don't even look at the links in those emails. Chances are, you can't tell if those emails are legitimate or not. If you think you actually need to read something from your bank, open a new browser window, type in the URL of your bank, and log in normally.
More tips to protect yourself from Phishing:
- Never provide provide personal information such as your bank account number, an account password, credit card number, PIN number, mother’s maiden name, or Social Security number via email.
- Never answer emails that warn you that your account will be shut down unless you reconfirm your financial information.
- Never answer emails that claim you’ve been a victim of fraud.
Phishing Traffic reports:
- Number of phishing reports received in July: 14,135
- Number of brands hijacked by phishing campaigns in July: 71
- Number of brands comprising the top 80% of phishing campaigns in July: 6
- Country hosting the most phishing websites in July: United States
- Contain some form of target name in URL: 46 %
- No hostname just IP address: 41 %
- Percentage of sites not using port 80: 9 %
- Average time online for site: 5.9 days
- Longest time online for site: 30 days
Tags: phishing, clemson, yourday, radio