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- Check that the email address and the sender name match.
- Check if the email is authenticated.
- Hover over any links before you click on them. If the URL of the link doesn't match the description of the link, it might be leading you to a phishing site.
- Check the message headers to make sure the "from" header isn't showing an incorrect name.
Example of a phishing email
In the example below Alex is the target of a phishing scam by an attacker who is pretending to be Ryeley. The attacker is very convincing; they've used Ryeley's real email signature and changed the sender name to Ryeley's full name. The attackers emails are in red, and the targets emails are in blue.
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Date: Wed, Mar 20, 2019 at 6:13 PM Subject: Re[3]: Re[2]: Urgent Request To: Alex Markessinis <alex.markessinis@sage.edu> On Wed, Mar 20, 2019 at 5:59 PM Ryeley Kuykendall <networkadmin@my.com> wrote: Available? Ryeley Kuykendall, Network Administrator Cowee Hall, Troy Campus The Sage Colleges -------------------------------------------- On Wed, Mar 20, 2019 at 6:02 PM Ryeley Kuykendall <networkadmin@my.com> wrote: I'm in a meeting right now, I need you to help me complete a task right away from any nearest store around. Thanks Ryeley Kuykendall, Network Administrator Cowee Hall, Troy Campus The Sage Colleges -------------------------------------------- On Wed, Mar 20, 2019 at 6:13 PM Ryeley Kuykendall <networkadmin@my.com> wrote: Are you receiving my emails? Thanks Ryeley Kuykendall, Network Administrator Cowee Hall, Troy Campus The Sage Colleges -------------------------------------------- Wednesday, 20 March 2019, 11:00 PM +0100 from Alex Markessinis <alex.markessinis@sage.edu>: Sure? What is up? -------------------------------------------- Wednesday, 20 March 2019, 11:03 PM +0100 from Alex Markessinis <alex.markessinis@sage.edu>: Okay. What do you need? -------------------------------------------- Wednesday, 20 March 2019, 11:06 PM +0100 from networkadmin@my.com <networkadmin@my.com>: Here is what you need to do for me real quick. I need google play gift cards, can you get some at the store right now? Let me know to advise denomination to purchase. I will reimburse you all expense as soon as I'm done. Thanks Ryeley Kuykendall, Network Administrator Cowee Hall, Troy Campus The Sage Colleges |
We always advocate checking the email address being used to send the email rather than just looking at the senders name. This will help you verify whether the email is legitimate or not. In the example above you can see the email being used by the attacker is networkadmin@my.com. This is not a valid Sage email address as it does not end with @sage.edu, however, the name used is the name of a Sage employee.
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