Phishing is an attack that attempts to trick a user into divulging personal information, such as bank username and passwords. This attack is typically initiated through email and will contain links to fraudulent websites that look exactly like the legitimate site. A user that is not aware of these schemes will believe they are on the real website and attempt to log in with their credentials. Nothing will happen and the attacker suddenly have the private information they were looking for.

Phishing scams are easy to thwart, however. By simply not clicking links in emails, most of these scams will fail to have any effect. If you receive an email that looks convincing, you should open your web browser and type in the full web address of the site you want to go to and hit enter. This way, you know you’re going to the intended website and not being redirected to a malicious page.

You can often verify you are on the correct site by right-clicking the page and selecting Properties. There should be a certificate button in the box that opens. Most important and secure sites should have a verified certificate. If not, you should be wary of submitting personal information online. With that said, not all sites will have certificates, either.

Newer web browsers like IE7 are proactive against Phishing scams. When you install IE7, you will be asked if you want to enable the Phishing Filter. This helps to block and warn you against websites that are known and suspected of Phishing. If you are on a known good site that has a certificate, the address bar will turn green and give additional information about the site you are visiting. The Firefox web browser and newer antivirus software will also have features that protect you against malicious sites and emails.

But the best tactic you can use is common sense. While it’s easy to be fooled by these, remember to guard your personal information and suspect everyone as being a Phishing site. It’s only when we let our guard down that these schemes work. It’s also important to keep your Operating System up to date and to have a current antivirus running and providing real-time protection.