Email safety

“I received an email with an attachment… Is it safe?”

-As a general rule, consider any attachment that you did not request as suspicious. Malware spreads through email typically either as an attached file or as a link to an infectious website. If you didn’t ask for it, don’t click on it! “Someone received an email with my name on it. Am I infected?” OR “I received an email from someone I know, but it looks strange!”

-Email “spoofing” is very, very common. Spammers collect ‘legitimate’ recognizable names & email addresses for two reasons:

1. To bypass spam filters.
2. To fool you into thinking it’s from someone you know.

You should always check both the name AND the email address of messages you receive.

See this example è

It might seem that it’s coming from someone you know, a business you work with, a bank, etc. If the names and addresses don’t seem to belong together, just delete it! It may even show up and look very legitimate with an address that is from someone you know…or even within your own company! Spammers are getting very sneaky!

Phishing emails can also contain links to fake portal sign-ins for OneDrive, DropBox, Google, and others.

In an attempt to capture your personal credentials, fake login portals that look much like legit services are constructed to let you unknowingly enter your username and password to a spammer’s site. See below? The portal looks like Microsoft’s OneDrive, but the domain is completely different!

When in doubt, please contact the help desk!

If something suspicious gets past your mail filter, we want to know about it! We’re happy to examine messages and attachments, and analyze them to help serve you better. Thanks!

-The help desk at Team Networks