Cybercriminals send more phishing emails now than ever before. When you receive an email, it’s important to look for any red flags. One red flag you can look for is a suspicious sender. If the sender is actually a cybercriminal, the email may contain phishing links or requests for sensitive information.
Verify the Sender
When you receive an email, it’s important to verify the sender. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you communicate with the sender regularly?
- Do you have any type of relationship with the sender?
- Does someone you trust have any type of relationship with the sender?
- Does the sender work for your organization, and is the email related to your job responsibilities?
- Even if you recognize the sender, does the email seem suspicious?
- Did the sender write in an unusual writing style or ask you to complete a strange task?
- Was the email sent from your company domain?
Make sure that the email address is not a visual spoof of your domain, such as "dornain[.]com" rather than "domain[.]com.”
Was the email sent from a suspicious external domain? For example, watch out for suspicious domains, such as micorsoft-support[.]com, that resemble legitimate domains, such as microsoft[.]com.
If you think the email is malicious, don’t click links, open attachments, or reply to the email. Stay alert, and remember that you can help keep your organization safe from cybercriminals.