July 17, 2024
One of the many ways in which hackers can get access to your valuable data is through a phishing website. This is the easiest method for them to obtain user names, passwords and account PINs. Why? Because you willingly type them in, believing that you are interacting with a genuine bank, government authority or ecommerce company.
What Is a Phishing Website?
The term phishing is a variation of the word “fishing”, because this is how the hackers operate. They throw in the bait and wait for unsuspecting victims to get caught. Phishing website are essentially copycats of genuine websites belonging to reputable entities:
- Banks or other financial institutions
- Government and regulatory agencies
- B2B vendors and suppliers
- Online marketplaces.
At the beginning, the imitation was crude and easy to spot. However, hackers have become increasingly sophisticated. Thus, some phishing websites can be difficult to tell apart from the real thing.
How to Detect Phishing Website
Now that we explained the phishing website definition, the defensive services specialists at CyberFlow will share the most helpful tips for recognising this type of malicious site.
1. Analyse the URL Carefully
The first way to check a website for phishing is by looking at the URL carefully. It is made to look similar to the one belonging to the site it copies, but it cannot be the same. Thus, for instance, instead of www.paypal.com, you will see versions such as:
- Pay-pal.com
- Paypal-money.com
- Peypal.com
Also, check the ending of the site. Most websites end in .com. Government sites use the extension .gov. Many businesses choose the extension attributed to the country they operate in:
- .uk for Great Britain
- .fr for France
- .it for Italy
- .cy for Cyprus
- .gr for Greece.
If you see an unfamiliar extension (often located in Africa or South-East Asia), you have most likely landed on a phishing site.
2. The Browser Warns that the Site Does Not Have a Security Certificate
Genuine websites implement SSL security certificate. This is visible in the URL, because it starts with HTTPS. Also, you will see the symbol of a closed padlock just in front of the URL.
If a site does not have the security certificate, most browsers will alert you to this. You will also see the symbol of the open padlock. Some of them will even refuse to open the URL.
However, some hackers go as far as purchasing security certificates for their malicious website, under false business names, of course. Thus, the mere existence of an SSL certificate is not enough.
3. Look at the Content with a Critical Eye
One aspect in which hackers do not invest a lot of time and effort is the content of a phishing site. As managed security service experts, we encountered many sites that had one page with acceptable text and the others filled with gibberish.
This is why, once you landed on a site, start reading the content and browsing a few pages before taking the action you are required to – such as logging into your internet banking platform. Pay attention to:
- Low quality images
- Lots of spelling and grammar mistakes
- Poor English, unnatural phrases
- Menu buttons that do not take you to any page.
These are major red flags that you are not on a genuine website.
4. Use a Wrong Password
As explained above, some phishing websites may have a professional design and content at an acceptable standard. Before you are tempted to trust it, do this small test: input the wrong credentials. Most commonly, use a wrong password.
In many cases, the hackers do not use advanced systems to check your credentials. Thus, you will appear to be logged in or allowed to move to the next step in the authorisation process.
5. Payment Methods
If you landed on a phishing ecommerce site, a major red flag is the type of payment methods it accepts. Reputable sites accept payment by various types of credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Phishing sites cannot establish merchant accounts with these payment processors, so they instruct you to pay by bank transfer or MoneyGram.
CyberFlow Can Protect Your Business from Phishing Attacks!
Most people access a phishing site from a link they receive in an email. The email is also made to look as if a reputable sender issued it. However, under the advanced protection of CyberFlow, such emails will never reach your inbox.
We offer a comprehensive range of cybersecurity solutions, including vulnerability assessment, email security and data loss protection.
Your data are extremely valuable – let CyberFlow protect them from hackers! Get in touch with our experts to assess your cybersecurity needs!