Don’t get hooked.

Phishing is a term used to refer to internet fraudsters or hackers who impersonate a business or brand by using their logo to trick people into giving out sensitive information such as usernames, passwords or any other personal details. Once these fraudsters have access to this type of sensitive information they can steal money from your bank account, damage your business brand or even compromise your personal information. Phishing is usually carried out by email or instant message and it directs users to enter details on a fake website whose landing page is almost identical to the legitimate one.

Some typical examples of phishing scams may include messages such as:

"We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity.” Or “Our records indicate that your account was overcharged. You must call us within 7 days to receive your refund.”

According to a study conducted by Google in 2014, the most successful phishing sites have captured data from at least 45% of its visitors with around 20% of hijacked accounts being accessed within 30 minutes of a hacker obtaining the login info. Although email is one of the most common methods of distributing phishing scams, they can also be conducted through SMS, chat rooms, fake banner ads (online advertising), fake job sites or fake browsing toolbars to name a few.

So how can you ensure that you don’t fall victim to a phishing scam?

Be vigilant and never reply to messages and emails that ask for your personal details. Don’t follow links provided within an email that may lead you to a fake website landing page which asks you to enter sensitive information (such as bank log in details), rather go to the official site to review the information.

Some service providers and websites provide a two-step authentication system which is a process that involves two secure stages to check the identity of anyone trying to access services on a computer or online. For example, Google offers a free two-step verification when logging in. You first need to enter your email address and password, and then you are asked to identify yourself via a notification sent to your mobile phone.

Our advice to anyone looking to secure their bank, email, mobile or any other online accounts, would be to purchase security programmes which work to protect all data and personal information on PC’s, tablets, smartphones and Macs.

Some examples of these programs include:

PhishTank SiteChecker

Bitdefender Total Security (2014)

McAfee LiveSafe™

Norton™ Security