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What Is Phishing?
Phishing refers to the practice of using bait email to lure victims to a copy of an existing legitimate Web page to trick users into providing sensitive personal information. Responding to phishing emails put your accounts at risk. Never provide personal information, specifically your debit card number and PIN, to any web site you arrived at from a link in an email. Always enter the URL for the web site directly into your web browser.
Large numbers of recipients are being "spammed," without actual knowledge of their banking affiliation. They request and collect email addresses and other confidential information like financial account numbers, IDs and passwords. The cyber-criminals have copied the logos and the content styles of widely known and respected financial institutions in an attempt to elicit a response from a recipient who may or may not be a customer of that financial institution.
How Cyber-Criminals Operate
To increase the number of responses, cyber-criminals often include upsetting or exciting statements in their emails. They want people to react immediately and respond with the desired information without thinking. To protect yourself, take the time to examine the claims made in the email. If you receive an email requesting sensitive information, check its authenticity by contacting the company that appears to be the originator of the message.
Protect Your Personal Information
Federal law now allows everyone to get one free copy of their credit report every year from the three primary agencies. To obtain your free report, visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com. You should review your credit report regularly to ensure no one has opened a credit card in your name.
General Computer Security
• Don’t open attachments you are not expecting.
• Don’t follow links in emails.
• Keep your anti-virus software up-to-date. Anti-virus software needs frequent updates to guard against new viruses. Download the anti-virus updates as soon as you're notified that a download is available. Some antivirus programs offer an "auto-update" feature, where regular updates are made automatically for you.
• Maintain current versions of your computer's operating system and Internet browsers.
• When you're not online, always disconnect from the Internet.
• Always back up the files on your computer.
• Install a personal firewall to help prevent unauthorized access to your home computer, especially if you connect to the Internet via a cable modem or a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem.
The following programs, in addition to anti-virus software, can help protect your computer from ad-ware, spy-ware and other forms of potentially dangerous software. Additional information can be found on the sites linked below.
The following free downloadable shareware is available online:
You may also purchase these software programs to help protect your computer:
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