This week Loma Linda University Health was hit with a new phishing (pronounced fishing) email. Phishing emails are pervasive and virtually all email users should be prepared to deal with them on a regular, if not daily, basis.
A phishing email is an email message that has been sent with the intent of defrauding the recipient of financial, password or other sensitive information by posing as a legitimate friend, company or other entity.
Phishing emails are designed to look like they were sent from someone the recipient knows in order to make them feel comfortable enough to open them and / or an attachment. This allows a payload to be downloaded which contains the malware or virus that will attempt to steal information from the victim’s computer.
Some phishing emails attempt to lure users to a Web page where they are prompted to enter information such as a social security number, credit card information or other personal information.
Phishing email can be difficult to spot at times. Here are some tips to help decide whether or not to open an email.
- When in doubt, do not open or click on any links in an email.
- If you receive an unexpected email with links or attachments, do not open the email. Be on the safe side and email or call the sender to confirm the message.
The information systems department has discovered a helpful online quiz that provides information about spam and phishing emails.
You can take the quiz here.