My second day on the job, while I was
still in Orientation, I got an email from HR saying that someone in
the company was retiring with a link to a card to wish them good
luck. I thought, OK, and clicked the link.
I was immediately
enrolled in Mandatory Cyber Security training. I had flunked the
phishing test. I learned all the different ways that cyber criminals
can attack your computer (and the company.) Apparently, the world is
teaming with nefarious people trying to take down your system. I
learned a valuable lesson that day. Do not click links in suspicious
emails.
From time to time, our IT team (who I actually
believe are a bunch of sadists) sends out fake emails to test our
ability to discern phishing attempts, and there is a button we can
push in Outlook that reports the email as phishing. I actually got an
email yesterday at work telling me that my VPN was suspended for
inactivity with a link to click to get it activated. (I did have
Monday off.) But since I had to sign into my VPN to access my email,
that one was easy to spot. I reported it. I guess one of my
co-workers got one as well.
HR and other groups (like the company name Black Alliance) send legitimate emails with links, but now I know the difference. Of course, that doesn't stop me from reporting them as phishing attempts. You can't have it both ways.
Recently, I received an email on my personal account from someone named John. Inside is nothing but a link. Of course, I didn't click it. I know better. Delete. Two more came in a little later. Nothing but a link. Delete. Delete. At this point I just marked it as spam. A couple days later, I checked my spam folder in case some wayward comment was stuck in there. It was FILLED with emails from John. Good thing I marked it as spam.
It is cooler today than it has been. That is a relief. This heat just kills me. Hope you all are well. Take care out there.
6 comments:
There are many ways to tell (odd address is a starter) but I've told the many folks who send me links that unless there's an explanation of the link, it will never get opened.
that is the way I feel about it as well
We warned you about letting Johno in. Now the entire sight and your computer are infected.
Wendy, Wendy, Wendy... We did warn you. I am sure there is a Nigerian Prince that wants to come to America and know only you can help him move his millions of dollars and precious gems if you would send him $500 bucks to cover postage, oh, and he needs all of your contact and banking information for security.
I have noticed on the BN and Curmudgeon blog Phil and me moderate a lot of spamming/phishing attempts and even on my email accounts a recent increase in phishing emails. Like AI gone bad, it has gotten that bad. Every day over half of my emails are phishing mail.
Miss wendyworn, I find it suspicious that whenever Cederq goes on a fishing trip, he never posts any pics of his supposed catches. Could he be one of these nefarious types engaging in phishing activity? I dunno, but I think that the NSA are wise to his tricks.
Spam mail isn’t so bad, I’d never get any email otherwise.
I don't waste time taking pictures Johno. If I can't remember it later, then it was worth remembering. I want to enjoy the moment, not play camera man.
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