There it is. Another phishy email from someone who acts like you should know them, asking you to send money or click a link. What should you do? Call the Help Desk? Report it to Security? Scramble the fighter jets? Actually, it’s much simpler than that. All you need to do is delete the email. When you hit Delete, you put an end to a sophisticated attempt to get your personal information, your money and maybe more.
Here’s how the bad guys work: they go phishing every day, sending out billions of emails hoping there really is a sucker born every minute. All they need is just one, uh, sucker to click a link that installs malicious software, or malware, on their computer, and then they can control it. The malware sends more email, spreading the infection to other computers around the world, like a bad case of the flu.
Now the malware doesn’t just stop at sending email. It also searches for account numbers, passwords and more to send back to the cyber-criminals who wrote the malware. They use this stolen information to access your accounts and to steal information that’s vital to you and our organization.
You’re not alone in dealing with these threats. In fact, IT has already built up multiple layers of defense against malware. They patch applications, keep anti-virus software up to date, monitor and prevent access to malicious websites. In fact, they already screen out 95% of the suspicious emails sent our way. But that final 5%? That’s right… it ends up in your inbox.
In the end, you are the last and most important layer of defense against phishing attempts. Don’t get caught, just delete that suspicious email. It’s that simple!