Identify and Prevent Phishing Scams with Managed IT Services in Houston

Hackers: They’re Clever

When securing managed IT services in Houston, you need a team that’s aware of the hacking atmosphere. It’s easy to make a mistake, especially as hackers continue to update the ways they “phish” information from businesses.

In a strange twist, small to medium-sized businesses are at a heightened risk for hack attacks of one kind or another. Larger operations have more funds to devote toward proactive hack prevention. Hackers are smart enough to know they’re better off getting $80k from eight small businesses than $20k from one big company. They can get more by working less hard and going after the less-defended businesses, whereas chasing that big fish inside a large corporation is going to take more time and energy, and may ultimately end up unsuccessful.

The Gmail Phishing Scam

One of the most shocking and effective phishing scams today is called “The Gmail Phishing Scam.” Hackers trick somebody into clicking on an attachment, which allows the scammers to obtain personal login information. Then, that account is used to scour through a variety of in-house attachments. The scammers are looking for a project or something of the kind involving multiple users. They’ll be looking to mimic something legitimate, and as exactly as possible— this will yield the highest returns.

Say you’ve sent out a document update on some protocol; hackers mimic that document and send it from “your” e-mail to coworkers. Then, they’ll open the e-mail and click the fraudulent attachment. A login page for Google pops up telling them they’ve got to verify their credentials. This isn’t uncommon, especially with sensitive information.

The best way to tell the difference between a fraudulent attachment and a legitimate one is to look for the green lock on the URL. It should be on the left side of the “https” portion of the URL and in the “locked” position. If you see that, the e-mail is legitimate. But a URL that has been encrypted will look different. For one thing, there won’t be any green lock. For another, there will be “prefixed” data in the URL. In such situations, should a recipient put in their personal information, the hackers can sneak malware into that individual’s device. As a result, the hackers will have access to another Gmail account.

Counteracting the Scam

Providers of managed IT services in Houston offer a number of solutions to help you avoid being phished. One of the smartest things you can do is use double verification on sensitive data or documents that are sent via attachment. Basically, when you’re asked to verify information, an additional verification step is sent to a device which information can’t be phished— like a smartphone.

One provider of managed IT services in Houston that has designed a variety of techniques to rebuff hackers is HoustonTech. We offer many different IT solutions, including:

• Cloud Computing Services
• Managed IT
• Professional IT
• VoIP Solutions
• Antivirus Solutions
• OnSite Support
• Antivirus Solutions

We can help you learn what to look for when it comes to hacking and avoid concerted attacks. We can also help monitor your system to curtail the damage when it comes. Contact us to secure your operations against concerted cyberattacks.