Business and Financial Needs

Guest article written by Veronica Flintoff

Spoofing and phishing are the computer based identity theft scams. Spoofing and phishing are usually used as a technique to convince internet users to provide personal or financial information that enables the internet crooks to commit credit card, bank fraud or other forms of identity theft.

In e-mail spoofing the header of an e-mail seems to have originated from anywhere other than the actual source. Cyber criminals use spoofing in an attempt to get individuals to clink on the link and respond to their solicitations.

Internet crooks use IP Spoofing in an attempt to get unauthorized access to computers, whereby the spammer sends a message to a computer with an IP address so as to convince that the message is coming from a trusted source.

Tips to protect yourself against spoofing and phishing attacks

The 5 tips that can protect you against spoofing and phishing attacks are given below:

1. Be careful about clicking on links in e-mail messages: If a firm you do business with is asking information (social security number, passwords, or other identifiers) from you, then visit its website by typing the firm’s web address in your browser, instead of clicking on the link to submit the details. As the URLS and e-mail addresses might be spoofed and redirected, therefore don’t submit private information in e-mail form or through a link in an e-mail message.

2. Keep the browser security on: Most of the recent versions of web browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Internet explorers do have a built-in phishing detection mechanism that examine the webpage you are opening as well as check a particular URL in its database containing blacklisted URLs. By default the mechanism is tuned on. So, don’t disable this feature. Also don’t visit suspicious websites.

3. Check the header address: Make sure to check the header address on the website. Generally, the legitimate sites have a relatively short internet address that typically depicts the business name followed by “.com,” or “.org.” Spoof sites usually have an excessively long string of characters in the header, with the legal business name anywhere in the string, or possibly not at all.

4. Make sure you are on a secure site: Websites can put you at risk for identity theft easily. When you visit a website, make sure to check your browser and the URL. If the site is secure, then your browser will show a “lock” graphic in the lower right corner of the webpage address, and the URL will start with “https://” and not “http://”. The “s” signifies the server is using secure HTTP.

5. Contact the company: If you have any suspicions about an e-mail or website, then contact the legitimate company directly. Send a copy of the website’s URL address to the legitimate business company and ask if the request is legitimate.

Finally, if you’ ve been victimized, then you must contact your Sheriff’s department or local police, and file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center. The law enforcement officials across the country will try to track down identity thieves.

Veronica Flintoff writes for getcreditnews. She is quite knowledgeable of various financial matters like tracking down identity theft, credit card debt, credit card fraud and has a unique approach to analyze them. Check out her articles on various financial topics with special emphasis on ‘Credit’ related issues.

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