IT Security - How to Spot a Phishing Email - Part 2

You received an email from someone claiming that your office email is BLACKLISTED and required you to click a button to confirm. Is this for real ?

STOP. Don't click. First, read the lines. Email service provider (the hosting company) do not simply blacklist your email account. That job is done by your email Administrator (usually someone from your IT Department).

Secondly, if you are a normal email user, there is absolutely no reason for your email account to be marked as a problematic account, unless you have been using it to spam other people.

Next, hover your mouse on top of the Confirm button and observe the link. The above example shows a link came from "primausaha.net". Is the URL sounds familiar to you? If NO, then it is obviously a scam, a phishing email trying to lure you their site and probably try to get you to reveal some sensitive information (e.g ID/password, credit number).

No further action should be taken on your part other than to delete the email and report the matter to your IT Department.

Even if your email account is suspended, the email Administrator will contact you directly. So it doesn't make any sense to receive an email from a stranger.

Going further, your IT Department will investigate further to confirm the URL from the email. The image below shows the result. The URL is a dangerous site.

On a side note, it also beneficial to install a Firewall to protect your local network. You may contact us for further details on IT Security.



Related links:

IT Security - How to Spot a Phishing Email - Part 1