The security of devices connected to the internet is very paramount if you have valuable information. For this reason, we have put a simple guide on steps you can take to avoid being a victim of phishing attacks.

What are phishing attacks

A phishing attack is a term used to describe the process through which a fraudulent person solicits for confidential information through fake emails, chats etc. Phishing attacks are one of the most common methods through which fraudsters access confidential information of their victims.

Therefore, seeing how common these attacks happen, let's look at how to recognise and prevent phishing attacks.

How to recognise and prevent phishing attacks

The best way to protect your account and devices from phishing attacks is to know how to recognise one. Though a lot of email services already have anti-phishing bots that move some suspected emails to the spam folder, some of these phishing emails may still get to our main box.

Therefore, since emails, chats or text messages are the means that these attackers use, we have to be careful about the kind of information we share through these mediums.

We can improve our account security by adopting the measures highlighted below:

1) The most common method used by phishers is to send a fake email, pretending to be your service provider. They would say they noticed something wrong with your account, you won a gift, a pending transaction etc. Whatever narrative they give, it would end with an instruction to click a link to deactivate or complete the transaction.

The link would ask for either your pin, or other sensitive information, and that's how they would access the victims' account.

It is HIGHLY unlikely that your service provider will request for your pin, password or security information online. When in doubt, kindly contact your service provider through the approved phone number on their website.

Example of phishing of emails:

2) Improve your device security by updating it with the latest security update. Regular updates give a more recent code database for the system to recognise the latest threat and block them on your behalf.

3) Add an extra layer of security by using 2fa on your accounts: For this method to also work effectively, ensure you DO NOT disclose your 2fa code to anyone for any reason online. For bank accounts, you can request a hard token from your bank, that will generate a code for you to complete transactions. It is also VERY UNLIKELY that your bank will call you to disclose the code generated by your token device.