TechTalk: Phishing and Smishing
 | Author:
Victor Sample
Vic Sample: MT43 News Treasurer |
Phishing and Smishing Victor Sample Phishing is an email attempt to “lure” you into clicking on a link to a malware site or to call a phone number. Obviously, the term comes from the word fishing.
According to the FBI, phishing is the most common type of cybercrime and is growing rapidly. Phishing has been around as long as people have been using email through the internet. Hopefully, all of you are aware that the Nigerian prince that needs to move his money out of Nigeria and is asking you to allow him to use your bank account in return for a huge reward is not real and is someone trying to trick you into giving them your bank account information. After everyone started recognizing the Nigerian Prince's phishing attempt, I started receiving variations: a businessman in India or Canada that is dying and wants to give away his vast fortune and for some reason out of 350 million people randomly selected me to help him – in return for a reward. Or perhaps you received an email from an “attorney” informing you that a very distant relative (in a foreign country) has left you a vast fortune and if you would just send him your bank information….
I personally have received at least 100 to 200 notifications that I won lotteries worth millions (the best one was $225 million). They were lotteries I never even entered! If only I had bothered to collect my millions…
The phishers moved on to more sophisticated schemes. You may have received emails or phone calls informing you that Microsoft Technical Support has been monitoring your PC and they have noticed you have major problems on your computer. For a small fee (usually hundreds of dollars) they will fix it for you. Microsoft Technical Support is NOT MONITORING your pc for problems. Nor do they have “partners” monitoring your pc for problems. IT IS A SCAM!
The current phase of phishing seems to be oriented on very sophisticated emails from well-known companies informing you that you have been selected to receive a “customer loyalty” gift. They feature very nice graphics that look very real. I have received them from Target, Home Depot, Kohls, etc.
Another type of phishing is an email that tells you your order is ready and will be shipped to you, or there is a problem delivering a package to you, or your bank account information needs to be updated. Always look at the actual email address that was used to send the email. If it is a string of nonsensical letters DO NOT RESPOND. Your bank will NEVER send you an email asking you to click on a link to update/verify your banking information.
Smishing is a term that I had never seen used. It is, of course. a different type of phishing. The technology used for sending texts from your smartphone is called SMS. Smishing is a cute reference to phishing done via texts.
Just like phishing emails, smishing is an attempt to get you to click on a link to a malware site or call a phone number to a scam artist. However, it is much harder to verify where the website link is going or that the phone number is a scam. NEVER answer those types of texts; never call the number; never click on the link.
Err on the side of caution!
I have been asked to do an Old Baldy Adult Education class on “safe surfing”. The class will be free and open to anyone that wants more information on these types of phishing/smishing. Watch for an announcement of the Adult Education programs being offered.
