Phishing FAQs
Contents
What is phishing?
In computing, phishing is a criminal activity using social engineering techniques. Phishers attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in an electronic communication. Phishing is typically carried out using e-mail or an instant message, although phone contact has been used as well. Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, and technical measures.
How can I check if a message is legitimate ?
Users who are contacted about an account needing to be "verified" (or any other topic used by phishers) can take steps to avoid phishing attempts by modifying their browsing habits. Users can contact the company that is the subject of the e-mail to check that the email is legitimate, or can type in a trusted web address for the company's website into the address bar of their browser to bypass the link in the suspected phishing message
How do I find who is behind a suspect message?
You need to open up the e-mail header and find the sender's true IP address. For
information on how to do this, see: Tracking
spam
When you have the spammer's IP address, search the databases
of the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs). For information on how to
do this, see:
Using the database to find the spammer/hacker's network
How do I complain?
Use the RIPE Database
to get e-mail addresses for the administrative and technical contacts at the
ISP (admin-c and tech-c). E-mail your complaint to these contacts
for them to investigate.
Please remember that the people you are writing to at this stage are
unlikely to be involved in the attacks on your system, so be firm but
polite.
In your complaint, include as much relevant information as possible
to make it easier for the ISP to locate and deal with the abuser. If
your firewall software has generated a log file of the attack, then you
should include that. If not, try to include at least:
- the IP address that attempted the network intrusion
- the date
- the time
- the time zone
More information
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