Microage - Think Before You Click

Think Before You Click -- Warning Signs

 FROM

• Do you recognize the sender’s email address as someone you ordinarily communicate with?

• Is this email from someone outside your organization and it’s not related to your job responsibilities?

• Is this email sent from inside you organization or from a customer, vendor, or partner and is it unusual or out of character?

• Does the sender’s email address come from a suspicious domain? (ex: micorsoft-support.com)

• You don’t know the sender personally and they were not vouched for by someone you trust.

• You don’t have a business relationship nor any past communications with the sender.

• Is this an unexpected or unusual email with an embedded hyperlink or an attachment from someone you hadn’t communicated with recently?
 
 
 TO

• You were cc’d on an email sent to one or more people, but you don’t personally know the other people it was sent to.

• You received an email that was also sent to an unusual mix of people. Examples would be a random group of people at your organization whose last names start with the same letter, or a whole list of unrelated addresses.

 

 SUBJECT

• Did you get an email with a subject line that is irrelevant or does not match the content?

• Is the email message a reply to something you never sent or asked for?

 

 DATE

• Did you receive an email that was sent at an odd time like 2 a.m. that you normally would get during regular business hours?

 

 HYPERLINKS

• You hover your mouse over a hyperlink that’s displayed in the email message, but the link to address is for a different site. (This is a huge warning sign)

• You received an email that only has long hyperlinks with no other information and the rest of the email is completely blank.

• You received an email with a hyperlink that is a misspelling of a known web site. For example, www.arnericanexpress.com - the “m” is really two characters: “r & n”)

 

 CONTENT

• Is the sender asking you to click on a link or open an attachment to avoid a negative consequence, or to gain something of value?

• Does the email have bad grammar or spelling errors or seems out of the ordinary?

• Is the sender asking you to click a link or open up an attachment that seems odd or doesn’t make sense?

• Do you have an uncomfortable gut feeling about the sender’s request to open an attachment or click a link?

• Does the email ask you to look at a compromising or embarrassing picture of yourself or someone you know?

 

 ATTACHMENTS

• Your were not expecting the email attachment the sender included or the attachment does not make sense within the context of the email message.
(The sender doesn’t ordinarily send you these types of attachments.)

• You see an attachment with a possibly dangerous file type. The only file type that is always safe to click on is a .TXT file. Be extremely wary of .ZIP files and .PDF files.

 

MicroAge Technology Solutions
415 Maitland Drive, Belleville ON
(613) 966-6201
www.microage.ca

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