Identifying Phishing

1. Suspicious Senders

• Check the Sender’s email address
• Look for subtle misspellings or unusual domain names

2. Generic Greetings

• Be cautious of generic greetings
• Phishing emails often use greetings like “Dear Customer” instead of your actual name

3. Urgent or Threatening Language

• Beware of emails that create a sense of urgency or fear
• Phrases like

  “Your account will be suspended,”

  “Immediate action required,” or

  “URGENT”

• May also promise rewards of some kind

4. Mismatched URLs

• Ensure the URLs in the email match the legitimate website
• Hover over links to see the actual URL

Poor Grammar and Spelling

• Look for spelling and grammatical errors
• Phishing emails often contain typos and awkward phrasing
• This is often due to attackers using Google Translate to translate into English

Unexpected Attachments or Links

• Do not open unexpected attachments or click on suspicious links
• A link might say ‘www.yourbank.com’ but actually lead to a different website
• Do not open an attachment if it is a .exe (Windows) or .dmg (MacOS)

Request for Personal Information

• Legitimate organizations will not ask for sensitive information via email
• Emails asking for passwords, Social Security numbers, or credit card details are likely phishing attempts

If you Suspect an email is Phishing

If you suspect that an email is a phishing attempt, please refer to Handling Suspicious Emails and follow the instructions to report the email to the IT Department.