What are Phishing Attacks?
Phishing is attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, credit card details, and sometimes, indirectly, money, often for malicious reasons, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. It involves using electronic messages to trick or mislead people into disclosing their personally identifiable information to facilitate a confidence trick or other fraudulent activity.
5 Ways to Eliminate Phishing Attacks
1. Review your User Accounts
It is essential to review your user accounts regularly to ensure that the contact details are up-to-date. Credit card companies, banks, and other service providers will inform you of any changes by email. If you do not review your accounts regularly, you may miss essential emails informing you of changes to your account information and could fall victim to a phishing attack.
2. Install an Antivirus on Your Computer
It is also essential to keep your computer software up-to-date. You can install antivirus software on Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. Make sure that you keep the latest version of this software and that it installs updates regularly to protect it against phishing attacks.
3. Use two-factor authentication (2FA) when logging into your account
It prevents unauthorized access to your account and helps you avoid becoming a victim of a phishing attack. It involves asking you for a secondary form of authentication, such as a code sent to your phone or via email. It can help ensure that no one else has access to your account and, therefore, cannot take advantage of the account information.
4. Avoid clicking on links from strange email addresses
You should also avoid clicking on links from strange email addresses, even if it seems legitimate. A phishing email may contain the same or similar elements as a real one but will ask for personal information under a pretense of urgency or authenticity. You can share it with emails that claim to be urgent requests from your bank, PayPal, or other service advising you to update account details, such as personal information, password, and security questions.
5. Add a security question and answer to your account
These are questions asked when you log into your account, for example, your mother’s maiden name, the first thing you did this morning, etc. If you answer security questions correctly, no one will be able to log in using those answers even if they have the correct username and password.
As a user, it is up to you to ensure that you take the necessary precautions when communicating with companies and other people online to enhance cybersecurity for small businesses. By doing so, you can avoid becoming a victim of small business cyber threats that can result in losing money and information.