Paypal Spoof

Phishing and Spoofing – Your Guide to Protect Against Them

The most recent Phishing and Spoofing fraud resulted in the theft of much more than simply PayPal login information.

Understand the concepts of Phishing and Spoofing to protect yourself and your company from such scams and identity theft. Also, be aware of the method by which the most recent PayPal phishing attempt was carried out.

Phishing is a fraudulent attempt by fraudsters to ‘fish’ for your personal, financial, or investment information through the use of email.

Phishing attempts are typically made in the form of an email that appears to be from a well-known company to gain the reader’s confidence. Within the email, you are typically prompted to click on a link that will take you to a bogus website meant to gather your personal information.

While some e-mails are fairly easy to recognize as fraudulent due to their poor design and poor grammar, others may appear to be from reputable sources due to their appearance. The name or address in the “From” column, on the other hand, should not be relied upon only because it can be readily changed. Take, for example, the image below, which appears to have arrived from PayPal and is requesting that you take some action.

However, one must exercise extreme caution when it comes to the link destination; for example, if you only hover your mouse over the link, you will be able to determine the legitimacy of the email.

When you receive a phishing email, even if it is difficult to distinguish, you should click on a link that sends you back to a fake website that seems similar to the one that was referenced in the email, where you will be requested to provide and/or update sensitive personal information. To compel you to take action, such emails may convey a sense of urgency or potentially dangerous circumstances.

The following types of information are the most frequently sought after through such channels:

Latest Phishing and Spoofing Scam that took away more than PayPal Logins.

 

As previously stated, the attacker pretended to be the user by sending an email with the subject line “strange behavior” on your account, prompting you to secure it by clicking on the link provided.

When I clicked on it, it redirected me to a page that looked very similar to the PayPal website. After that, it removed all of the critical information, including PayPal login credentials, address, debit/credit card information, and so on.

Counterfeit / Spoofing Website

After the attack, the attacker sends a message indicating that the account has been successfully restored. However, the truth is that your whole information is in the possession of the attacker.

Spoofing or counterfeiting a website is defined as the act of constructing a website to defraud others by misrepresenting it as legitimate. Phishers exploit the names, logos, pictures, and even the source code of legitimate websites to make their spoof sites appear legitimate. They are even capable of faking the URL that shows in the address bar at the top of your browser window as well as the Padlock icon that displays in the bottom right corner of your browser window.

When you click on the link in the email, you will be taken to an impersonated fraudulent website where you will be asked to update or confirm account-related information only in the email and submit. These emails may also drive you to bogus Web sites or pop-up windows, which may attempt to obtain your personal information from you.

All of this is done to access sensitive account-related information such as your User ID and Password, as well as your bank account information.

One method of identifying a bogus Web site is to consider how you arrived at the site. If you write or copy and paste, the URL into a new Web browser window and it does not take you to a valid Web site, or if you receive an error message, the URL was likely a ruse to direct you to a bogus Web page.

Best Way to Secure yourself from Phishing and Spoofing Attacks

Look for the Padlock icon in the browser bar: There is a factor standard among online browsers that causes the display of a padlock icon in the browser bar to appear. When this symbol appears, it shows that the domain you are visiting is safe and secure, as confirmed by the SSL Certificate Authority. In a nutshell, an SSL Certificate should be used to protect the website from hackers.

Padlock with a high level of security

After you have verified that the padlock is present, you should investigate the sort of SSL Certificate that has been employed. Typically, a reputable website will have an Extended Validation SSL Certificate installed on its website.

However, if it is a phishing website, it may employ a Free SSL Certificate solely to deceive the user. Terence Eden, a technologist located in the United Kingdom, recently published about a phishing fraud that made advantage of a free SSL certificate.

Also, see The Dangers of Using a Free SSL Certificate.

The URL (web page address) of the webpage should be checked: When exploring the web, the URLs (web page addresses) should begin with the letters “HTTP.” Over a secure connection, the address displayed should begin with “HTTPS” – take notice of the “s” at the end – and should be preceded by “HTTP.”

URL shortening: It is necessary to pay more attention to the shorter links. The attacker frequently makes use of Bitly-generated shortened URLs. Such shorten links are primarily utilized on social networking platforms to conduct phishing attacks.

Threats and strict time constraints Email: Be on the lookout for emails from an attacker purporting to be a respectable firm that tells you to do something urgently or threatens you with dire consequences.

It is recommended that you read the email again and search for any punctuation or grammar issues. A few grammatical faults are always present in phishing emails.

As a well-known corporation with a long history, we require something urgently. For example, eBay requested that users change their passwords as soon as possible following a data incident in 2014.

Conclusion: As we all know, cybersecurity is improving at a rapid pace, but at the same time, attackers are employing sophisticated tactics to deceive unsuspecting consumers (Except their English). They pose themselves as a reputable company, and yet they steal not only your login credentials, but also your credit card information, address, and other personal information.

As a result, identifying spam and protecting oneself from it can be quite tough. What is the solution to this problem other than a hack? Phishing and spoofing are two types of fraud that users should be cautious of. All that is required of us is to hone our observational skills and to be cognizant of cybersecurity risks.

If you come across any phishing emails or spoofing websites, please forward the information to info@https.in so that we can assist you in protecting your company from these disasters.

Take a stand and report any phishing activity you come across. It is past time for us to get together and fight against this type of behavior to protect our people from being spammed.