Page 369 - Trackpad 402_Class-X_Final
P. 369
Phishing is one of the most common cyber-attacks that everyone should learn about in order to protect themselves.
It is a fraudulent practice of sending emails to reputed companies or personnel in order to incite them to reveal their
financial and personal information so that they can steal sensitive data like credit card or login information, or to install
malware on the victim’s machine.
Subject: Detecting a Phishing E-mail
Following can act as hints to detect Phishing E-mail:
• Spelling and Unusual Grammar: Cyber criminals generally make grammar and spelling mistakes
because they use dictionary too often to convert in a specific language. If you notice such
mistakes in an e-mail, it might be a scam.
• E-mail Links: Some links in the e-mail are usually with unknown URLs. To verify, take the mouse
(but don’t click) over the link to see if the address matches the link that was typed in the message.
Some links may also forward to .exe, or zip files. These are known to install malicious software.
• Acknowledgment: Generally, the cyber criminals don’t know the names of targets except the
e-mail addresses, so they use just a part of the targeted e-mail address, in the salutation or a
uses general salutation.
Spoofing means faking someone's identity. It is done by fake emails, text messages and websites created to look like
they're from authentic companies. They're sent by criminals to steal personal and financial information from you. For
example: adidasenquiry@gmail.com
Some common online spoofing threats are like:
E-mail Spoofing: When someone sends e-mails that appear genuine from a trusted e-mail ID but in reality they're not
trustworthy. In this type of spoofing, a user may receive an e-mail from a portal or social media platform where spelling
of service provider or email ID has been slightly changed. For example, mailto:customersupport@tridentportall.com.
Notice that the spelling of "portall" is incorrect.
Chat Spoofing: Chat spoofing is a type of spoofing in which a computer system or a user of a computer chats with
someone using a false identity. This type of spoofing is done with the intent of gathering personal or business
information. For example,
Dear consumar you Electricity power will be disconnected. tonight at 10.30PM electricity office.Because you preious
month bill not was updated. Please immediately contract with our electricity officer 8240357605 Thank you.
This can be avoided if the end user’s system is well equipped with firewalls, antivirus software, anti-spywares, strong
passwords, etc.
ANTIVIRUS
A set of programs that identifies and removes malware is known as antivirus software. You must have an antivirus
software installed on your computer. It detects the virus in the computer and prevents it from replicating itself onto
your computer system.
Hundreds of new viruses are developed every hour. Antivirus software developers regularly release updates on the
Internet that allow their programs to detect the latest known viruses. You can update your copy of antivirus only
through the Internet. So, it is essential to have an Internet connection to update antivirus software. Eradicating a virus
is the term used for cleaning a computer.
Web Applications and Security 369

