Our CEO almost got Phished!

Have you come across to a situation where you receive a spam email which makes you believe you are familiar with a spammer? Have a look of what happened to my boss below, it can also happen to you.

“Hi

Just hoping this email reaches you well, I\’m sorry for this emergency and for not informing you about my urgent vacation trip to Manila Philippines, but I just have to let you know my present predicament. Everything was fine until I was attacked on my way back to the hotel, I wasn\’t hurt but I lost my money, bank cards, mobile phone and my bag in the course of this attack. I immediately contacted the nearest police station. I\’m physically ok and fine but I\’m urgently in need of some money to pay for my hotel bills and my flight ticket home, will pay back as soon as i get back home. Kindly let me know if you would be able to help me out so I can forward you the details required for a wire transfer via the western union

Thanks

Friend\’s Name”

Undoubtedly; everyone is concerned about his or her own safety. All Parents make sure that there is strong security at home, they drive careful and walk attentively just to make sure there is safety everywhere. But most probably, the same people are not so concerned about their personal Data security, whenever they send or receive emails.

Emails have been one of the reliable means to both companies and individuals. Yet, it is the dangerous way to sell our identities to spammers.

How do Spammers get our contacts?

1. Viruses and Spywares: It happens when one’s computer is lost. The spammer uses your private details like password and smart card.
2. Logging in using free Wi-Fi: that we do not aware of its setting
3. Using public terminals (like in airports, cyber-cafes): – untrusted devices that can capture the account and dig out more information (e.g. login to Gmail or yahoo, then all the contacts within gmail and yahoo is downloaded and used for scam emails.

What do we do next?

Get our emails signed

It is very important to have signed emails. But also, we should first check whether the email address sent is the same in our address book.

You may call the person to verify the integrity of the email before responding.

To secure your email effectively, you should encrypt three things: the connection from your email provider; your actual email messages; and your stored, cached, or archived email messages

[Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/254338/how_to_encrypt_your_email.html]