How To Recognize And Prevent Phishing Scams

Posted by Cloud Step on August 14th, 2019

One of the main reasons why you would hire an IT support Orange County in California is to keep your data and information safe. Phishing is one of the methods scammers use to trick you into giving out your personal information. They may try to steal your account numbers, passwords or social security numbers. They could gain access to your bank, email or other accounts if they get that information. Scammers launch a lot of phishing attacks daily and they are often successful. But there are several things you can do to protect your business.

Recognizing phishing

Cybercriminals often update their phishing tactics but there are a few things that will help you recognize a phishing text message or email. Phishing text messages and emails may look like they are from a genuine company that you trust or know. They may look like they are from a credit card company, a bank, online payment website, social networking site or an online store. Texts and messages from fraudsters often tell a story to trick you into opening an attachment or a link. They may also tell you that they have noticed suspicious activity or claim that there is a problem with your payment information and they can help you fix it. They will tell you to confirm some personal information and even include a fake invoice. They will want you to click on a link to pay for the services and even say that they are eligible to register for a refund.

Protecting yourself from phishing attacks

Your IT support company Orange County in California should be able to sport a phishing activity and help you prevent it. Your spam filters in your email may automatically keep most of the phishing emails from your inbox. However, scammers are constantly coming up with ways to outplay spam filters so it is always good to add extra protection layers. You should protect your computer using security software and make sure that the software is updated automatically to deal with new security threats. You should set the software to update automatically on your mobile phone to give you critical protection against any security threats. You also need to protect your accounts by making use of multi-factor authentication.

Another way you should protect yourself from phishing is to protect your data by backing it up. When you back up your data, you should ensure that the backups are not connected to your home network. You can store your data on cloud storage or copy your computer files to an external hard disk.

What you should do when you suspect phishing attacks

If you get a text message or an email that asks you to open an attachment or click on a link, consult your IT support Orange County provider first. You should also think if you know the person that contacted you and whether you have an account with the company that contacted you. If you don’t know them, it could be a phishing scam and you need to report the message and delete it.