Malicious Emails - Information from Quad
Email Security
There are various types of malicious emails, each one is unwanted for various reasons:
SPAM
Spam emails are unsolicited emails that are generally trying to get your business, much the same as normal spam mail you get through the post. These can be overcome by the use of spamfilters. The best advice is just get rid of these unwanted messages.
Phishing
Phising messages are those that try and trick you to get you to reveal your important and sensitive information, such as bank details or usernames and passwords for other websites. These emails will tend to look like genuine emails, but will send your details to an unaffiliated fake sites, where your details get harvested and used for nafarius means.
Trojans and Viruses
Other emails may contain attachements, often disguised to look like imporetant business information you may normally get and work with. These files may contain viruses which criminals can use to take control of your PC or to harvest your information. It is always advisable to avoid opening emails, especially attachments from unknown sources.
There are a few things you can do to help minimise your risk to malicious emails:
- Never open emails or attachments from unknown senders.
- Set up a list of known senders (a safe list) which you can trust.
- Use a spam filter to cut down on unwanted messages.
- Do not respond to emails with any important or sensitive information
- Do not click on links in emails that may take you to somewhere sensitive (like banking emails, always use a safe, known link you already use, or search for the organisation that may have sent the email and use that link.
- Above all, ensure you have a secure, off-site backup and disaster recovery plan.
If you require any assistance with your email or IT requirements, contact us on 0114 2013950 for further help.