How is it possible to know if someone is phishing us?

Hackers are constantly learning new ways to access people's information and abuse it to achieve their immoral goals. As you know, there are many ways that hackers can use to achieve their desires and hack various organizations and individuals and steal their personal information easily. One of the dangerous ways is phishing, in which hackers use different methods to hack people's systems, which may include  phishing email, deceptive phishing, spear phishing, vishing, pharming attack, etc., the point which is even more important for users is finding a way through which they can find out if they have been phishing or not, in this article, we will explain more about this issue, but before that, it is necessary to explain phishing briefly.

What is phishing?

Phishing  is one of the methods used by hackers to gain access to the information of different people. In this type of attack, which we mentioned many methods before, hackers send a fake message to endanger all users' personal and significant data. Through these attacks, hackers can easily access the personal information of different users, such as credit card numbers, personal information, etc., and abuse them to achieve their desired results.

Typically, hackers prefer to use emails that are so attractive from the users' point of view to implement phishing that makes the user click on it quickly. Finally, when they tend to open these kinds of emails, hackers compromise their information, as a result, to find out if your information has been stolen or not, you need to raise your awareness as much as you can, so you can detect suspicious items in your system that indicate that your system has been  phishing attacks  with being aware of every detailed point about this kind of hacking attack and having enough acknowledgment in this field, therefore the best thing to do is paying attention to the following points to find out whether your system is being phished or not.

Note the following points:

- Review disturbing messages properly:

All users have a lot of important information in their system, so they do their best to  increase the security  of it as much as possible, and if they identify a sign that their information  security  is being compromised, they may be so frightened and worried, and they can no longer think properly. As a result, they will open the message and be attacked through phishing scams. Hackers may also use threatening messages to make users afraid, like warning them that their information will be lost forever if they do not pay for it. Users may lose their concentration and decide to do whatever the hacker wants as soon as possible.

If you encounter such messages, you have to keep calm and pay attention to the point that if you do not have the necessary expertise in the field of  system security, you should get help from an expert in this field, otherwise try to do it yourself and take some steps to increase the security of your information, but keep in mind that you should implement these techniques carefully so that you don't allow hackers to achieve their desires.

- Pay attention to the URLs of websites:

In most phishing attacks, you are finally asked to click on a site address or a link. If you do, your information will be quickly attacked by hackers, so all URLs must be redirected, and you are supposed to check the sites before you click on them to see whether the site that emailed you is a reputable one or it is a site created by hackers.

There are several ways which you can determine whether the site that you want to check is real or not, one of which is that before clicking on the URL which is sent by email, you should search the site of the relevant company in the search engine, to compare the addresses with each other and see if it is same as the real company's website URL or not, another step that some individuals or organizations may take is to write down all the URLs of the sites they are dealing with. If they are given an email, they will first check the URL of the site, and then decide to click on it, so they avoid being attacked by hackers through this way.

- Haven't you filled out the poll recently?

Some hackers use polls that ultimately cause a lot of harm to the user, so you should be careful not to fill out polls that you may be suspected of. Most of them can be found on social media, and you should pay attention that these polls provide a lot of information to hackers, so they can eventually access your information through them. Hackers on social networks may also use social engineering extensively to steal information from people who can trust everyone easily, so you should be aware of such suspicions and never trust anyone easily to  protect your information  from being stolen.

- Hackers use adrenaline to achieve their goal:

Hackers use many ways to achieve their goal, one of which is adrenaline. As we mentioned before, hackers try to raise a sense of fear and anxiety or excitement in the users and cause them to release a lot of adrenaline to achieve their desired results. Due to the release of adrenaline, you can't decide properly. You may decide to do whatever hackers want, for instance, you may receive a message that contains good news like winning a grand prize, and you should click on the link which is given if you want to receive your prize immediately, as it has given you a lot of excitement, you may not be able to think correctly. As a result, hackers will achieve their goal, and if you encounter these types of messages, you should delete them quickly and never click on the given link to keep your information safe.

- In addition to suspicious emails, be careful of the calls you receive:

Another thing that may eventually cause you to be hacked is not paying attention to the calls that are made to you and ignoring the warning signs in these cases, hackers can easily call you from somewhere far away, and in order not to draw your attention to the distance, they tend to change their code, so they ensure you that this call is from a nearby place through this way. As a result, you will respond to it easily.

Phone calls can also do all the actions that hackers can do by e-mail, so they can get a lot of information through these calls, so you have to pay more attention to recognize the suspicious signs that exist in order not to fall into the trap of hackers.

- You have downloaded a new program:

Another thing that indicates that hackers have attacked you is that you have downloaded new software in the last few days, and your system has been attacked through that program. As a result, your important information is lost, so you have to be aware that you should not download the  software  you need from an untrustworthy source. You should only choose reputable ones to download your programs, but in a case that you make this mistake, you should delete the program immediately and check all your information to see whether they are stolen or not.

- Take any suspicious case seriously:

To find out that you have been attacked by hackers quickly, you need to investigate all the suspicious cases and their causes. If you cannot find out their causes, you can get help from system  security  experts, who will help you get your information back from hackers.

Last word:

To detect  phishing attacks, you must learn and pay attention to all the points mentioned in this article and implement them in your system so that hackers cannot achieve their desires. You can identify the phishing by observing any suspicious case and take the necessary measures to prevent your information from being attacked and maintain the  security of your information.