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[:en]How to recognise a phishing e-mail [:af]Hoe om `n phishing e-pos uit te ken[:]

Tuesday, October 5th, 2021

[:en]

We can’t warn you against every phishing e-mail– there’s a new variation every day. You are the only person who can protect yourself from phishing scams and identity theft. The only way to do this is to learn to recognise a harmful e-mail by paying attention and keeping an eye out for a few tell-tale signs.

Typical characteristics

1. Well-known companies used as bait
These e-mails are sent out to thousands of different e-mail addresses and often the person sending them has no idea who you are. If you have no affiliation with the company the e-mail address is supposedly coming from, it’s fake. For example, if the e-mail is sent by ABSA, but you are a Standard Bank client. Also, see a list of types of companies generally used in phishing e-mails below.

2. Spelling and grammar
Improper spelling and grammar is a dead giveaway. Look for obvious errors.

3. Lack of client information
Phishers use a generic greeting. For example, the e-mail greets you as “ABSA customer” or “Dear user”, etc. If the company was sending you information regarding your faulty account, they would mention your account details or name in the e-mail. A company would go through the trouble to address a client by name and won’t ask you for your information. Banks have your information on their system.

4. Deadlines/Sense of urgency
Phishing e-mails demand an immediate response or stipulate a specific deadline, creating a sense of urgency and prompting you to respond before you’ve looked at the e-mail properly. For example, demanding that you log in and change your account information within 24 hours or your account will be closed.

5. Malicious links
Although many phishing e-mails are getting better at hiding the true URL you are visiting, often these e-mails will show a URL that is unrelated to the company. Move your mouse over the link and look at the display address. Is this the website address of the company who seems to be sending the e-mail? If not, it’s clearly a phishing e-mail.

6. Attachments
Phishing e-mails occasionally include an attachment which contains malware. When opened, it will run and install a small programme on your PC, which hackers use to gain access to your PC and information.

Typical phishing topics

• Account issues, such as accounts or passwords expiring, accounts being hacked, out-of-date accounts, or account information has to be changed.
• Credit cards expiring or being stolen, a duplicate credit card, credit card transactions, etc.
• Confirming orders, requesting that you log in to confirm recent orders or transactions before a delivery can be made.
• Winning a prize or getting something for free. Both Woolworths and Pick ‘n Pay’s have been used in fake campaigns to lure people into providing personal details.

Company names phishers generally use

• Any major bank. ABSA and Standard Bank are both popular choices in South Africa.
• Insurance companies, for example, Outsurance.
• Internet service providers
• Apple or Microsoft claiming your account has been suspended.
• E-mail providers, e.g. Gmail or Yahoo
• SARS. Especially at this time of year. (We’ve had a few of these.)
• DHL or any delivery company claiming they have a package for you.
• Your company’s medical aid, for example, Discovery
• Your company’s IT department
• Casinos and lotteries
• Online dating websites
• Popular websites such as Amazon, Facebook, MySpace, PayPal, eBay, Microsoft, Apple, Hotmail, YouTube, etc.

A few tips to keep you safe

• Never follow links in an e-mail you’re uncertain of. Rather visit the page by typing the address of the company in your browser. For example, instead of clicking on the “ABSA URL” in the e-mail, type http://www.absa.co.za in your web browser and log in at their official website.
• Never send personal information by e-mail. If a company is asking for your personal account information or claiming your account is invalid, visit the website and log in to the account as you normally would. If everything seems in order and there aren’t any urgent notifications from your bank, you should be fine.
• If you are still not sure about the status of your account or are concerned about your personal information, contact the company directly, either through an e-mail address provided on their website, over the phone or visit your local branch.
• Delete the e-mail and don’t click on links or fill in any information.
• If you’ve already divulged your information, immediately change your password or PIN and contact the institution to inform them of the breach.
• To report spam or phishing e-mails send an e-mail to sysadm@sun.ac.za with the subject SPAM with the suspect e-mail attached. IT system administrators will then be able to block the e-mail to protect other users.

[SOURCE: www.computerhope.com]

[:af]

Ons kan jou nie teen elke phishing e-pos waarsku nie – daar is bykans elke dag ŉ nuwe variasie. Die enigste persoon wat jou kan beskerm teen phishing-pogings en identiteitsdiefstal, is jyself. Maar, ŉ goeie begin is om te leer om ŉ gevaarlike e-pos uit te ken deur meer oplettend te wees. Kyk uit vir tipiese kenmerke en jou kans om ŉ slagoffer te wees, sal verminder.

Tipiese kenmerke

1. Bekende maatskappye as lokaas
Phishing e-posse word gelyktydig uitgestuur na duisende e-posse en dikwels weet die persoon wat dit stuur nie eers wie jy is nie. Indien jy geen verbintenis het met die maatskappy waarvandaan die e-pos kom nie, is dit waarskynlik vervals. Byvoorbeeld, as die e-pos deur ABSA gestuur is en jy is ŉ Standard Bank kliënt. Sien ook ons lys van maatskappye wat tipies gebruik word vir phishing onder.

2. Spelling en taalgebruik
Onvanpaste spelling en taalgebruik is gewoonlik ŉ duidelike aanduiding. Kyk uit vir voor-die-hand-liggende spelfoute.

3. Gebrek aan kliënte-inligting
Phishing e-posse se aanhef is altyd generies. Byvoorbeeld, die e-pos spreek jou aan as “ABSA customer” of “Dear user”, ens. Indien die maatskappy jou werklik wou inlig oor jou foutiewe rekening, sou hulle na jou rekening-inligting of naam in die e-pos verwys het. ŉ Maatskappy sou die moeite doen om hulle kliënt aan te spreek op sy naam en sou hom ook nie vra vir sy inligting nie. Hulle het reeds al jou data.

4. Spertye/Dringendheid
Phishing e-posse dring daarop aan dat jy dadelik reageer of gee vir jou ŉ kort spertyd. As gevolg van hierdie dringendheid, word jy onder druk geplaas om te reageer voordat jy behoorlik kans gehad het om die e-pos te bestudeer. By voorbeeld, dit dring aan dat jy binne 24 uur aanteken om jou bankdetails te bevestig of jou rekening word gesluit.

5. Vyandig-gesinde skakels
Deesdae is kuberkriminele al slimmer en steek hulle die werklike URL waarheen skakels gaan beter weg. Maar soms sal jy sien dat die URL wys na ŉ adres wat glad nie verwant is of lyk soos die maatskappy s’n nie. Beweeg jou muis oor die skakel en kyk na die adres wat gewys word. Is dit die maatskappy se regte webwerfadres? Indien nie, is dit ŉ phishing e-pos.

6. Aanhegsels
Phishing e-posse het soms ook aanhegsels wat malware bevat. Indien jy dit oopmaak, installeer dit ŉ klein programmetjie op jou rekenaar waarmee kuberkrakers toegang tot jou rekenaar en inligting verkry.

Tipiese phishing onderwerpe

• Probleme met rekeninge, byvoorbeeld ŉ rekening of wagwoord wat verval, gekraak is of inligting wat skielik verander het.
• Kredietkaarte wat verval, gesteel word, ŉ duplikaat kredietkaart of kredietkaarttranssaksies.
• Bevestiging van bestellings. Byvoorbeeld ŉ versoek om aan te teken en onlangse bestellings of transaksies te bevestig voordat dit afgelewer kan word.
• Kompetisies waar jy ŉ prys gewen het of iets gratis kry. Beide Woolworths en Pick ‘n Pay is al gebruik in phishing e-posse om hul kliënte te lok om persoonlike inligting te gee.

Maatskappye wat gebruik word vir phishing

• Enige bekende bank. ABSA en Standard Bank is beide populêre keuses in Suid-Afrika
• Versekeringsmaatskappye, byvoorbeeld Outsurance.
• Internet diensverskaffers
• Apple of Microsoft (wat beweer dat jou rekening opgeskort is)
• E-pos verskaffers, byvoorbeeld Gmail of Yahoo
• SARS. (Veral dié tyd van die jaar)
• DHL of enige afleweringsmaatskappy wat beweer hulle het ŉ pakkie vir jou.
• Mediese fondse, byvoorbeeld, Discovery.
• Jou maatskappy se IT-afdeling
• Casino’s en loterye
• Aanlyn-afspraak webwerwe
• Gewilde webwerwe soos Facebook, MySpace, PayPal, eBay, Microsoft, Apple, Hotmail, YouTube, ens.

ŉ Paar wenke om jou veilig te hou

• Moenie op ŉ skakel kliek as jy onseker is nie. Gaan eerder na die webwerf deur die maatskappy se webadres in te tik. Byvoorbeeld, tik http://www.absa.co.za in jou webblaaier en teken aan op die amptelike webwerf, in plaas van om te kliek op “ABSA URL” in die e-pos.
• Moet nooit persoonlike inligting per e-pos stuur nie. Indien ŉ maatskappy jou persoonlike inligting vra, gaan direk na hul webwerf en teken aan op jou rekening soos altyd. As daar ŉ probleem is, behoort daar ŉ kennisgewing van jou bank te wees.
• As jy nogsteeds onseker is oor die status van jou rekening of bekommerd is oor jou persoonlike inligting, kontak die maatskappy direk d.m.v. die e-posadres op hul webwerf, telefonies of besoek jou plaaslike tak.
• Vee die e-pos uit, moenie op die skakels kliek nie en moenie inligting invul nie.
•Indien jy reeds jou inligting ingevul het, verander dadelik jou wagwoord of PIN en kontak die instelling om hulle in kennis te stel.
• Om gemorspos of phishing e-pos aan te meld, stuur ŉ e-pos aan sysadm@sun.ac.za met SPAM as onderwerp met die e-pos aangeheg. IT stelseladministrateurs kan dan die e-pos blok en sodoende ook ander personeel daarteen beskerm.

[BRON: www.computerhope.com]

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Tags: hacking, phishing, spam
Posted in E-mail, Security, Tips | Comments Off on [:en]How to recognise a phishing e-mail [:af]Hoe om `n phishing e-pos uit te ken[:]

[:en]How do I report phishing?[:]

Tuesday, October 5th, 2021

[:en]

You’ve received a suspicious email, what should you do with it? Firstly, don’t click on any links. But just as important, send it to us so we can prevent more staff and students falling prey to the scam. We encourage our customers to submit potential phishing examples for review. Using these submissions, the Cyber Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) can learn from the analysis of these messages. This collectively helps to improve the level of virus and spam detection.

What is phishing?

Phishing attacks are designed to steal a person’s login and password details so that the cyber criminal can assume control of the victim’s social network, email, and online bank accounts. Seventy percent of internet users choose the same password for almost every web service they use. This is why phishing is so effective, as the criminal, by using the same login details, can access multiple private accounts and manipulate them for their own good.

More on how to recognise a phishing email.

Report phishing

On the ICT Partner Portal:

Go to https://servicedesk.sun.ac.za/jira/servicedesk/customer/portal/6/create/115
Fill in your information and add the email as an attachment. Your request will automatically be logged on the system.

*Spam or phishing examples must be sent in either.EML or .MSG format as an attachment and must not be forwarded. This ensures the original email can be analysed with its full Internet message headers intact. Alternatively, use the mail application to save the email (usually located under File | Save As) as an .EML or .MSG format to a folder location, and attach the saved file to a new email.

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Tags: malware, phishing, report phishing, report spam, spam
Posted in Security, Tips | Comments Off on [:en]How do I report phishing?[:]

[:en]”Cryptocurrency” scam email[:]

Wednesday, March 28th, 2018

[:en]

Please be aware of a scam making the rounds since yesterday.

It is a “Crypto-currency” (bitcoin) scam that comes in the form of an e-mail from an unknown sender (currently an address from name@dacfinance.online). It will look like this:

Hi, how are you?
I hope you are okay

I’ve been trying to reach you for the past couple of days.

Something MAJOR is happening in the trading world and I want you to know about it.

>> Check this with your email somebody@sun.ac.za

Are you ready for that kind of spending power?

Many people already started to trade cryptocurrencies, BitCoin and LiteCoin.

Join now to our Group!

To your success,
Some Name
DAC Finance

cryptocurrency.website address

This is a sneaky attempt to defraud users seeking an opportunity to invest in Bitcoins (crypto-currency). The website you are taken to is filled with fake testimonials, inflated bank account numbers, exaggerated claims of easy money and various other lies and fabrications. The software that you would be asked to install is fake and will compromise security on your computer and be used to send spam. Furthermore, victims will have to pay anything up to $250 to join the “investment” scheme and the only thing that will happen is that you will be $250 poorer. Here is an example of the website page:

Do not respond to this mail or be tempted to join this scheme. The fact that university e-mail addresses reused and the claims look legitimate should rather be a warning.

As always if you have received mail that looks like this, please immediately report it to the Information Technology Security Team using the following method:

Send the spam/phishing mail to help@sun.ac.za and sysadm@sun.ac.za.
Attach the phishing or suspicious mail on to the message if possible.
1. Start up a new mail addressed to sysadm@sun.ac.za (CC: help@sun.ac.za)
2. Use the Title “SPAM” (without quotes) in the Subject.
3. With this New Mail window open, drag the suspicious spam/phishing mail from your Inbox into the New Mail Window. It will attach the mail as an enclosure and a small icon with a light yellow envelope will appear in the attachments section of the New Mail.
4. Send the mail.

[Article by David Wiles]

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Tags: phishing, report spam, spam
Posted in E-mail, Security | Comments Off on [:en]”Cryptocurrency” scam email[:]

[:en]E-mail scam with subject: “morning”[:]

Wednesday, December 13th, 2017

[:en]

It seems that scammers are now attempting to use student e-mail addresses to send out spam.

If you get mail with the subject of “morning”, supposedly coming from a student account (studentnumber@sun.ac.za) with the following content, please ignore and delete it.

“We are conducting a standard process investigation involving a late client who shares the same surname with you and also the circumstances surrounding investments made by this client.Are you aware of any relative/relation having the same surname? Send email to: scammer@scam.com”

This is a typical Nigerian 419 Advance Fee scam. Do not respond to this mail. The scammers just want to see who will respond so they can con you out of some money.

A reminder again of how to correctly report spam and phishing scams:

Send the spam/phishing mail to the following addresses:

help@sun.ac.za and sysadm@sun.ac.za.

Attach the phishing or suspicious mail on to the message if possible. There is a good tutorial on how to do this at the following link (which is safe): http://stbsp01.stb.sun.ac.za/innov/it/it-help/Wiki%20Pages/Spam%20sysadmin%20Eng.aspx

Start up a new mail addressed to sysadm@sun.ac.za (CC: help@sun.ac.za)
Use the Title “SPAM” (without quotes) in the Subject.
With this New Mail window open, drag the suspicious spam/phishing mail from your Inbox into the New Mail Window. It will attach the mail as an enclosure and a small icon with a light yellow envelope will appear in the attachments section of the New Mail.
Send the mail.

IF YOU HAVE FALLEN FOR THE SCAM:

If you did click on the link of this phishing spam and unwittingly give the scammers your username, e-mail address and password you should immediately go to http://www.sun.ac.za/useradm and change the passwords on ALL your university accounts (making sure the new password is completely different, and is a strong password that will not be easily guessed.) as well as changing the passwords on your social media and private e-mail accounts (especially if you use the same passwords on these accounts.)

IT has set up a website page with useful information on how to report and combat phishing and spam. The address is: https://blogs.sun.ac.za/it/en/2017/11/reporting-spam-malware-and-phishing/

As you can see the address has a sun.ac.za at the end of the domain name, so it is legitimate. We suggest bookmarking this.

[Article by David Wiles]

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Tags: cyber security, spam
Posted in E-mail, Security | Comments Off on [:en]E-mail scam with subject: “morning”[:]

[:en]Nigerian 419 Advance Fee scam[:]

Wednesday, November 29th, 2017

[:en]

A scam in the form of a well-known “Nigerian 419 Advance Fee” mail is appearing in some of our colleagues and students mailboxes this morning.

The mail is rather simple:

Subject is: “Kindly view attach and forward your reply to <a gmail address>”

The mail’s content simply states the same and the attachment is an image of a letter and states that the sender has a large amount of money that they would like to send you.

This is a typical “Nigerian 411 Advance Fee” scam.

Here is how it works:

You receive an unsolicited message that masquerades as some manner of business proposition, request for assistance, notice of a potential inheritance, or opportunity to help a charity but all of the scam messages share a common theme.

The messages all claim that your help is needed to access a very large sum of money and promise that you will receive a significant portion of this money in exchange for your help.

The scammers use a variety of stories to explain why they need your help to access the funds.

They may claim that political climate or legal issues preclude them from accessing funds in a foreign bank account and request your help to gain such access.
They may claim that your last name is the same as that of the deceased person who owned an account and suggests that you act as the next of kin of this person in order to gain access to the account’s funds.
They may claim that a rich businessman, who has a terminal illness, needs your help to distribute his wealth to charity.
They may claim that a soldier stationed overseas has discovered a cache of hidden cash left by a fleeing dictator and needs your help to get the money out of the country.

All these scams promise to let you keep a significant percentage of the funds in exchange for your assistance. This is the bait that is used to pull potential victims deeper into the scam. Once a recipient has taken the bait, and initiated a dialogue with the scammers, he or she will soon receive requests for “fees” that the scammer claims are necessary for processing costs, tax and legal fees, bribes to local officials, or other – totally imaginary – fees.

In reality, the supposed funds do not exist and the main purpose of these scam messages is to trick recipients into parting with their money in the form of these advance fees. Fraudulent requests for fees will usually continue until the victim realises he or she is being conned and stops sending money. In some cases, the scammers may gather enough information to access the victim’s bank account directly or steal the victim’s identity.

Typically, advance fee scammers will send many thousands of identical scam messages to recipients all around the world. (as is today’s example) It only takes a few recipients to fall for the claims in the messages to make the operation pay off for the criminals.

What to do if you receive such an Advance Fee email:

It is important that you do not respond to it in any way. The scammers are likely to act upon any response from those they see as potential victims. The best thing to do with these scam messages is to simply delete them.

Send the spam/phishing mail to the following addresses

help@sun.ac.za and sysadm@sun.ac.za.

Attach the phishing or suspicious mail on to the message if possible. There is a good tutorial on how to do this at the following link (Which is safe) : http://stbsp01.stb.sun.ac.za/innov/it/it-help/Wiki%20Pages/Spam%20sysadmin%20Eng.aspx

Start up a new mail addressed to sysadm@sun.ac.za (CC: help@sun.ac.za)
Use the Title “SPAM” (without quotes) in the Subject.
With this New Mail window open, drag the suspicious spam/phishing mail from your Inbox into the New Mail Window. It will attach the mail as an enclosure and a small icon with a light yellow envelope will appear in the attachments section of the New Mail.
Send the mail.

If you have fallen for the scam:

IT have set up a website page with useful information on how to report and combat phishing and spam. The address is:

https://blogs.sun.ac.za/it/en/2017/11/reporting-spam-malware-and-phishing/

As you can see the address has a sun.ac.za at the end of the domain name, so it is legitimate. I suggest bookmarking this.

[ARTICLE BY DAVID WILES]

[:]

Tags: phishing, spam
Posted in E-mail, Security | Comments Off on [:en]Nigerian 419 Advance Fee scam[:]

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spam

[:en]How to recognise a phishing e-mail [:af]Hoe om `n phishing e-pos uit te ken[:]

[:en]How do I report phishing?[:]

Report phishing

[:en]”Cryptocurrency” scam email[:]

[:en]E-mail scam with subject: “morning”[:]

[:en]Nigerian 419 Advance Fee scam[:]