In the News
Email scams and phishing attempts may not just be targeting your email inbox. In Gmail Glitch Offers Stealthy Trick for Phishing Attacks, Lindsey O’Donnell at Threatpost discusses how a malicious attacker can send emails that get received and stored in a user’s sent mailbox, providing the opportunity to evade scam filtration of inbox emails. O’Donnell explains that by sending an email with a user’s email address in the ‘from’ section, this then prompts Gmail to save the email as read in the sent folder. O’Donnell states that this can be used by malicious attackers to embed malware or harmful content in attachments and links that appear to have been sent by an unsuspecting user.
Our Take
Phishing attempts and email scams are all too frequent in today’s society, and falling prey to such an attack can have dangerous repercussions for your data security and finances. Technology glitches, such as the one recently detected on Gmail increase the ability of malicious attackers to create and profit off of phishing and scam attacks. These types of glitches allow attackers to capitalize on unsuspecting users who may not be aware that hackers can access their sent folder or access their email account at all. Although such glitches should be the company’s responsibility to address, it is crucial that all email users be aware of the possibility of malicious emails and attachments somehow plaguing their email account or one of their contact’s accounts. Take an additional few seconds to confirm that you are reading the correct email or opening a legitimate attachment…it could save you big time in the future.
Recommendations
How can you protect your personal information from phishing attempts and malicious attacks?
- Avoid clicking directly on links, whether in email or social media – always search through your search engine to verify legitimacy and find the appropriate site
- Be mindful of your emails; always check the date, subject line, and recipients to confirm that you are reading and using the correct email
- Stay up to date on recent security glitches, scams, and attacks to see if you may have been affected