Beware of phishing and email spoofing during the outbreak Email
Written by ALCC   
Tuesday, March 24, 2020 01:00 AM

data securityOnline privacy and security are serious issues, and with more employees working from home during the Coronavirus outbreak it's more important than ever to be vigilant. Many of us may think that we can recognize spam or phishing emails, though scammers continue to become more sophisticated. Teaching email security to staff should be an ongoing process to keep ahead of those sophisticated schemes. For example, email spoofing can be difficult to recognize.

Email spoofing involves sending messages with a forged email address. When you receive an email that says it is from your friend John Doe, you can avoid opening a dangerous message by looking to see if the sender email address is not his own. But when the message shows a sender email that matches his, you might feel comfortable opening the message and clicking on a link inside. That’s the danger of spoofing.

It’s important that your staff are trained and reminded to be vigilant about opening or clicking on any links or attachments that they are not expecting. If you and an email sender do not normally share files or have a contract pending, be wary if you receive them out of the blue.

Protecting your business from email security threats is important not just to the safety of your computer network. It can affect your client, customers, and colleagues if one of your email addresses is compromised.

One simple way to protect against these threats is to talk with people. If you receive an email from a friend or colleague that has a link or attachment that you were not expecting or that does not look familiar, pick up the phone and give them a call. If their account has indeed been compromised, your call can alert them to a problem so that they can address it sooner.

In one recent case, an employee received an email that claimed to be from her boss, asking her to initiate a wire transfer. Since he had made a similar request before, she began to put together the necessary information.

But she also made one key action that prevented the employee from putting her company at risk: she spoke with her boss. She mentioned that she was working on the transfer and would need some information from him to complete the task. The boss informed her that he had not requested a wire transfer, and they referred back to the suspicious email and confirmed that it was indeed a fraud.

In the end, speaking with our co-workers and colleagues can go a long way toward electronic security.

Read more in this issue of Colorado Green NOW:
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First Coronavirus relief act signed into law March 18

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Review your company's online presence