Spam or Phish? How to Tell the Difference Between a Marketing Email and a Malicious Spam Email

Virtual crime is a side effect of the convenience of technology. With greater strides in technology making everything from banking to communication faster and easier, cybercriminals are also finding more creative ways to hack and scam. The most prevalent form of digital crime is currently phishing.

Phishing versus Spamming

Phishing emails are a huge threat to any network. Many phishing emails do their best to disguise themselves as a communication from a legitimate company. Many recipients have become savvy to this type of phishing; however, it’s not the only way that cybercriminals attempt to attack via the inbox.

Spam is something the average email user sees every day. In fact, over 48% of all email is spam. Spam is really electronic junk mail. Inboxes are inundated daily with offers and content you never requested. It can be annoying, and most email setups relegate this to the junk folder.

Many times, these emails make it into the main inbox. Spam emails have common themes: the promise of something too good to be true. While many of these are scams and the person sending them is attempting to swindle the recipient, spam emails aren’t phishing emails.

Phishing and spam share the common characteristic of being something you didn’t want, but there are critical differences that make phishing emails malicious. Behind every phishing message is a cybercriminal trying to trick the recipient into revealing personal information. Thus, it’s important for everyone to know the difference between a marketing email and a malicious spam email. Remember: identifying probable phishing scams and reporting those can also be a huge help in keeping the network secure.

Let’s look at how to spot one from the other so that you don’t make the mistake of clicking on a dangerous link.

Major Differences Between Phishing and Spamming

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