Learn to Recognize Suspicious Online Virus's and Malware

Learn to Recognize Suspicious Online elements The “bad actors” have become experts at creating emails that look legitimate. Be sure you and your staff learn to recognize the signs of fraudulent social engineering of emails, links, websites, etc.:

Suspicious sender:

1. You do not recognize the sender
2. The sender appears to be a legitimate business entity, but when you hover over the email address it shows an unrelated name and/or domain
3. The sender’s domain is unusual
Suspicious online addresses:
1. Hover over the hyperlink; the link-to address should not direct to a different website
2. An email contains only a long hyperlink, and the rest of the email is blank
3. A hyperlink is misspelled
Suspicious date/time:
1. The email is sent at an unusual time, such as 3 a.m.
Suspicious subject line:
1. The subject line does not match the message content
2. The email purports to be a reply to something you never sent or requested
3. The subject line appears to contain common words, but they are misspelled, or substitute numbers for letters of the alphabet
Suspicious attachments:
1. You were not expecting an attachment
2. The attachment is in Word or Excel
3. The attachment contains an “executable” extension type such as .bat, .js, .exe, etc.
Suspicious content:
1. The email implies you will either avoid a negative consequence or gain something of value if you click on a link
2. The content contains bad grammar or spelling errors
3. It asks you to look at a compromising or embarrassing picture
4. Content that appears to be about cheap pharmaceuticals, inheritance, or romantic connections, for example