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What is a Phishing Filter? Plus, How to Set One Up!

It is estimated that 14.5 billion phishing emails are sent every single day. Because the volume is so high, phishers need only a few people to click to be successful. In fact, a typical spam phisher can earn up to $7,000 per day.

 

A 2015 study by CBS of almost 20,000 people found that 80% of them fell for at least one scam. That’s why it’s a good idea to add or enable a phishing filter in your browser, an easy procedure which can help prevent disaster. In this article we’ll talk about what a phishing filter does and how to set one up.

Enter the Phishing Filter

To deal with the tsunami of phishing attacks, filters have been developed to divert or neutralize these emails. The suspicious emails are sometimes placed in a special inbox or flagged and stripped of their attachments and links. Users or admins can then examine its contents more carefully.

Additionally, web browsers have their own type of phishing filter. When you click on a link, Firefox, Chrome or whatever browser you use will often automatically load the document or website. For regular sites, this helps make the Internet a pleasurable experience. However, if the site is malicious, you could be opening yourself up to a world of trouble. You could enter your credentials which could be stolen, or, if you are using a browser or program that is not up-to-date or has some kind of vulnerability your computer could be infected by a virus.

 

A browser phishing filter examines these redirects more closely. It could compare the URL to a blacklist of phishing sites, or analyze the link for Cyrillic or swapped characters that make it appear real (e.g. using an uppercase “I” instead of a lowercase “l”).

If there (Read more...)

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from InfoSec Resources authored by Chris Sienko. Read the original post at: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/infosecResources/~3/UTeiz1jKIBk/