Marin CyberSafe News: Protect Yourself from Email Scams

In This Issue

• Indicators of Email Scams
• How To Protect Yourself
• What To Do If You Think You Are a Victim

Indicators of Email Scams

Phishing emails can be convincing and trick many people into providing personal data.  Some common indicators of phishing emails are:

• Suspicious sender address. The sender's address may imitate a legitimate business. Cybercriminals often use an email address that closely resembles one from a reputable company by altering or omitting a few characters.
• Generic greeting and signature. Both a generic greeting such as “Dear Valued Customer” or “Sir/Ma’am” and a lack of contact information in the signature block are strong indicators of a phishing email. A trusted organization will normally address you by name and provide their contact information.
• Spoofed hyperlinks and websites. If you hover your cursor over any links in the body of the email, and the links do not match the text that appears when hovering over them, the link may be spoofed. Malicious websites may look identical to a legitimate site, but the URL may use a variation in spelling or a different domain (e.g., .com vs. .net). Additionally, cybercriminals may use a URL shortening service such as Bit.ly to hide the true destination of the link.
• Spelling and layout. Poor grammar and sentence structure, misspellings, and inconsistent formatting are other indicators of a possible phishing attempt. Reputable organizations have dedicated personnel that produce, verify, and proofread customer correspondence.
• Suspicious attachments. An unsolicited email requesting you to download and open an attachment is a common delivery mechanism for malware. A cybercriminal may use a false sense of urgency to persuade you to download or open an attachment without examining it first.

The County of Marin has observed an uptick in Business E-mail Compromise (BEC) incidents over the past couple of months.  In a BEC, the cybercriminal compromises an employee in a legitimate organization and takes control of their e-mail account for their own use.  This is especially dangerous, as any e-mail sent from this account appears to come from the employee.  In reality, it is being sent by the cybercriminal.

Once in control, the cybercriminal may attempt any number of actions such as:

• Contacting the organization's finance or human resources department to redirect an employee's direct deposit.
• Posing as a vendor and requesting updates to the vendor's payment account.
• Launching phishing attacks to contacts in the employee's address book.

How To Protect Yourself

If you are unsure about an email you received, here are some easy steps you can take to protect yourself: 

• Do not click links or open attachments in emails you were not expecting.
• Do not enter any personal, login, or financial information when prompted by an unsolicited email.
• Do not respond to or forward emails you suspect to be a scam.
• If in doubt, pick up the phone and contact the person or organization the email claims to have been sent by using contact information you find for yourself on their official website.

What To Do If You Think You Are a Victim

Did you click a link that you shouldn’t have?  Are you getting strange pop-ups and ads?  Do you think your account has been compromised?

• Immediately change any passwords you might have revealed. If you used the same password for multiple resources, make sure to change it for each account, and do not use that password in the future.
• Report it to the appropriate people within your organization. They can be alert for any suspicious or unusual activity.
• If you believe your financial accounts may be compromised, contact your financial institution immediately and close any accounts that may have been compromised. Watch for any unexplainable charges to your account.
• Watch for signs of identity theft. If you believe you have become a victim of identity theft, visit IdentityTheft.gov to report it and create a recovery plan.

Disclaimer

The information provided in Marin CyberSafe News is intended to increase people’s awareness of cybersecurity and to help them behave in a more secure manner. Links in this newsletter are provided because they have information that may be useful. The County of Marin does not warrant the accuracy of any information contained in the links and neither endorses nor intends to promote the advertising of the resources listed herein. The opinions and statements contained in such resources are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions of County of Marin.

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