One of the ways hackers like to get into networks is to pose as popular and familiar organizations - such as banks and social networks - to lure users into clicking on malicious links and attachments.
One of the latest examples of this is an email going around from "Linkedin Helpdesk" (photo included this post).
The "Linkedin Helpdesk" Email
The email message body reads:
Good morning,
We found a situation on your profile today, please view complete message here (link).
The message is sent via HTML click here (link) to view.
Thanks,
Bennett, Andrew
LinkedIn Corporation
Given that there are over 414 million LinkedIn members (at the time of this post), there's a good chance that this message reached many LinkedIn users who would be concerned about problems with their profile, and would click on the links to learn more. That's the scammers' plan.
When you hover your mouse over the links in this email message, they point to long, unfamiliar URLs, which solidify that this is a scam. Clicking on the links could take you to a compromised website, infect your machine with a virus, install a malicious application, or many other things that you want no part of.
How Can I Protect Myself?
Spam filters and other technologies work hard to prevent malicious emails from getting to your inbox, and many do block 99% of spam messages. But hackers are crafty and they find new ways to evade IT security measures all the time.
There are thousands of scams going around daily, so email users need to be vigilant about reviewing emails and making sure they are legitimate before interacting with them.
A Few Things To Look For In Emails:
- Link addresses: If there are links in the email, hover your mouse over them before clicking. This will show you where the link is going to take you. If it's something you don't recognize or a jumble of letters, don't click it.
- Sender addresses: Scammers frequently make it look like the email is coming from a name you would recognize (such as Linkedin Helpdesk), but if you look at the actual email address, it will generally be spelled differently, or it could be something completely different. The address for the "LinkedIn" email above actually came from monaco @ telephone-europeen .mc.
- Attachments: If you're not expecting an attachment from that sender, or if something just seems strange to you, don't click on it.
Be careful out there and, when in doubt, don't open it! Consult with your IT team if it's questionable.
If you aren't sure if your organization's IT security is up to best practice, give our Business Technology Specialists a call at (800) 481-4369.
