Identity Theft - phishing

• Do you regularly receive emails asking for your personal details?
• Do you have personal and corporate financial information that needs protecting?

Phishing is the term used to describe the act of attempting to fraudulently acquire sensitive information such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business with a genuine need for such information, usually by email containing links to a fake site.

The damage caused by phishing ranges from loss of access to email to substantial financial loss. This style of identity theft is becoming more popular because of the ease with which unsuspecting people often divulge personal information to phishers, including credit card numbers, bank account details and mothers' maiden names. There are also fears that identity thieves can obtain some such information simply by accessing public records.

One strategy for combating phishing is to train users to deal with phishing attempts. Users who are contacted about an account needing to be 'verified' can contact the company that is the subject of the email to check that the email is legitimate, or by typing in a trusted web address for the company's website into the address bar of their browser, thus bypassing the link in the suspected phishing message. But probably the most effective way of protecting your users from email identity theft is to stop them receiving the email in the first place...