Bits'n'Bytes

As heard on CJCD

Episode 24

Today I'm here to talk about one of the more dangerous aspects of the internet and email. It's called phishing. Not fishing, like out on Great Slave Lake, but phishing spelled with a 'p-h' like phone, instead of with an 'f'. The idea is the same though. Instead of the bait being a cisco and the catch being a nice juicy trout, malicious email and website creators send you a message - the bait - trying to get you to go to their website and reveal personal information about yourself - the catch.

The bait is often a supposed message from your bank. Something about your personal information not being up to date. Please log into our site to update your information. Then there's a link to the website. Unfortunately, the website isn't your bank's website - it's someone else's and their trying to trick you into divulging your personal information to them. Once they have that information, they can quickly run up your credit cards and empty your bank accounts.

There are ways to avoid being scammed, but you have to pay attention. Because they are often created by people outside North America, expect a few spelling mistakes. Watch for those and treat them as suspect. When you hover your mouse over the link provided, the address that link really goes to will appear at the bottom left of the email. Make sure it goes to a legitimate site. Watch for multiple instances of website addresses in the address you can see. The website address furthest to the right is the one it will go to. For example, if the address says http://www.mybank.com.bowcomp.com, the link is going to bowcomp.com - NOT mybank.com - and it's a phishing attempt.

Generally, non profit organizations use the dot org address, businesses use the dot biz, government uses dot gov, and internet providers use dot net. Dot name addresses are for people's names.

If you're ever not sure whether an email is legitimate or not, close the email, open your web browser and type in the address yourself. Type in what you know the address is - not the one the email gave you. Remember also - no financial institution should ever email you a request for information directly. No legitimate bank, credit card company, auction site or retail store. Ever.

Stay tuned next week for some tips on what to look for when buying a new computer.

I’m Computer Dave, thanks for your time.