Basics of Cybersecurity — 2

In the series of posts on Cybersecurity, let’s look at what Phishing is and how one can safeguard themselves to a certain extent from such scams.

Phishing is when someone tries to trick you into giving them sensitive information by pretending to be a trusted entity, like a bank or a government agency. They may send you an email or SMS that looks legitimate and asks you to click on a link or enter your information.

All of us need to understand how to be cautious and protect ourselves from such phishing scams. But how does someone who is not very tech-savvy do it?

Let’s look at some basic steps to protect yourself from phishing scams.

(1) Be cautious of emails that ask for personal or financial information. Do not open such emails without verifying the source first.

Ask yourself — do I know this person or entity well enough to share this information with them?

If in doubt, don’t share.

(2) Be wary of opening emails with attachments from unknown sources. Such attachments could contain malware to steal your information. It is a good practice to not open any attachments without scanning through an anti-virus or anti-malware software first.

(3) Before clicking on any links in your message or email, verify the source of the website. You can do this by hovering over the sender’s email address or the link to see the actual URL.

(4) Look for visual cues such as misspelled words in the site link (like citibnak.com instead of http://citibank.com), awkward phrasing, or a sense of urgency in the message, as these are usually indicators of a scamming message.

(5) Most banks and financial institutions these days allow two-factor authentication (i.e.) the OTP mechanism to validate logging to the accounts, to add an extra layer of security. If enabled, when someone tries to log in to your bank account, you should get an OTP.

There are a few more things one can do to escape phishing, like:

— Use a spam filter for your emails

— Keep the data encrypted on your phone/laptop/desktop

— Keep your security software like anti-virus or internet traffic monitor updated

Most importantly — Be Aware!

Cybersecurity Part 1: https://bigfundu.medium.com/basics-of-cybersecurity-1-69ca0e34a7ba