AIIM True North

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  • 1.  More Phishing As More People Work From Home

    Posted 04-19-2020 11:47
    With so many working from home and the cross-utilization of personal and work email, the phishers out there just keep getting better. I received this notice today. Looks legit, feels ok as all that has happened is my account is locked. Fortunately for me, I haven't used my account for over a year.  So, I thought I should copy the URL from the "Log In to Paypal" button and examine it in NotePad. It is certainly not from PayPal (see example screenshots below).   Whenever you get a suspicious email or something you may question, simply copy the link address and paste it into NotePad or any text editor so you can see just where the link will take you.  Here are some best practice ideas to help protect you, your family and colleagues when it comes to Phishing attacks.

    1. Do not use personal email for work-related activity. 
      1. Using personal email may expose your credentials/access, it may expose personally identifiable information (PII) beyond the protections that your organization has put in place, personal emails are more likely to be misaddressed exposing confidential information like financial, intellectual property, and your colleagues' email/login id and even password hints.
    2. Make sure that your malware/antivirus (AV) software is up to date
      1. most home computers lack sufficient AV protection as it is not installed nor are they properly updated.
    3. Make sure that your Operating System and User software are up to date with the latest security updates. 
    4. Connect to the internet via your organization's Virtual Private Network (VPN)
      1. If your organization does not have a VPN, using a private one like ExpressVPN, ipVanish, Hotspot Shield, etc. will protect your connection.
    5. Never click on a link or button in an email until you have reviewed where that link will take you.

    Stay Informed / Stay Safe


    How to review a forwarding link or button with a link:
    1.  Copy the URL.  Right-click on the link or button.  Copy the link (Copy Link on Mac/Copy URL on PC)
    2.  Open any text editor like NotePad and paste the copy.
    3.  Check the URL for legitimacy.  If the URL does not have the URL of the organization than its most likely a phishing attack. 

    I as many of my colleagues, would like to know if you have been subject to this type of attack and what you have done to remediate further attacks.  Please share it with the Community.

    As a final note, during COVID-19, many attacks are coming in the form of updates to relief benefits.  Revenue Canada (CRA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) do not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information. 


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    Richard Freeman
    Principal Consultant, Digital Optimization
    Ricoh Canada
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  • 2.  RE: More Phishing As More People Work From Home

    Posted 05-25-2020 07:37
    Great call out here. Phishing is getting more and more complex. There are fraudsters/criminals who are making copycat Office 365 company branded login pages, sending targeted email messages to specific users to convince them to log in. Everything looks legit until you look close at the URL. Scary times.

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    Michael Graff
    Staples
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