WHAT IS PHISHING?

Phishing is one of the most widely used techniques by Cybercriminals today. It is a form of Internet fraud where cybercriminals try to trick the user into obtaining personal or confidential information, usually by sending emails, SMS messages or phone calls that seem completely legitimate.

In the face of this threat, all the staff of the institution must be alert so as not to fall into the trap of phishing, must know how to identify a false message or e-mail and must quickly inform the systems department in the event of detection or suspicion.

HOW DO WE AVOID PHISHING?

The best tools we have to defend ourselves are common sense and caution.

We must always keep in mind certain important precautions in order not to become victims of phishing, which are, above all:

• Do not open suspicious emails
• Do not click on links received by email or SMS without evaluate if they are secure.
• Always check who is the real sender of an email. Even if the name and surname may seem correct we must always verify that the original email address is the correct one.
• Check that all the information in the email is consistent. For any details that do not fit (unknown telephone number, different language, unusual expressions, suspicious internet links, ...) BEWARE and REPORT.
• Never give your personal information (user, password, PIN, ...) or confidential by email or phone call.

The cybercriminals will always try to MAKE US FALL INTO THE TRAP using different techniques:

• They will send us an email faking whoever is sending the message, making us think it is someone we know.
• They will hurry us by saying that the information expires quickly or that we will lose access to certain information.
• They will send us an attachment or a malicious link to open it.

In the event that someone opens the file or clicks on the attached link the malware can act in several ways

• A "ransomware" type of malware will encrypt all our information and will ask for a financial ransom in order to recover it.
• It can steal our banking credentials.
• It can steal the conversations we have had via email and the contacts we have, which they will use to send emails to the recipients of these conversations to make them even more believable that the emails are real.

LEARN WITH EXAMPLES

Suppose we receive the following email:

This email, at first sight, seems completely legit as it is a response to a previous conversation. But no, this email is malicious.

Unfortunately for us the cybercriminal has (fictitiously) had access to previous emails and is using them to try to trick users into such a conversation.

Details that we should ALWAYS look out for when we receive an email:

1. Check in detail who is the sender of the email, both the name and the email address. In the email we've seen, you can see that the name includes someone from the organisation, but if you look at the email address, you will see that it does not belong to the organisation:

   

    

2. . We can see how the email incorporates an internet link. In these cases, before clicking on a link, you must ALWAYS CHECK the real address of the link, PLACING the MOUSE above the NON-CLICKED link.

   

   We can observe that the link address is totally unknown (the domain healthcorner.ae is not a corporate domain) and, therefore, absolutely suspicious.
3. We can also see that the telephone number does not correspond with any of the institution, not even from the province of Barcelona. Again, another detail that should make us suspicious.

   

Other types of messages that we should be wary of in the first place:

• Messages that require urgency.

• Messages that offer bargains or special offers.

• Messages asking us to enter, modify or confirm personal data:
  personal addresses, access credentials, password, PINs, bank account numbers, etc.

WHAT WE SHOULD DO IF WE SUSPECT PHISHING: REPORT

In the case of being clear or of the slightest suspicion, that we are victims of phishing, we must quickly inform Serveis TIC by performing these actions:

• If you have Classic Outlook

In this case we will have to access https://outlook.office365.com/mail/ and continue with the following steps:

• If you have Outlook Modern/New or you use a browser

1. In the mail list, right-click on the mail

2. Select "Report" and then "Report phishing" or "Report spam".