There’s been a spate of phishing emails recently trying to convince people of one of the following:
- Your password is about to expire
- Your email inbox is full and needs action
- Your emails are blocked because there’s an error in your POP/IMAP settings
- Your domain name is about to expire
- ICANN, the regulatory body for domain registrations, now requires all domain owners to renew their mailbox services; your service has expired.
You may not be the person who set up and manages your website and email services. So you may not have enough information to be wary about some of these emails. The POP/IMAP one and the ICANN email in particular are trying to bamboozle the reader with a scattering of technical terms and the authority of ICANN.
Email services and a website that works are all essential for a small business. So the combination of urgency and significance may just be enough for you to click the—inevitably dangerous—link hidden in the buttons displayed below any of these messages.
Don’t do it. Check with your web person, IT person or service provider first, even if you think you ought to know about these things. It’s better to feel a little silly than to fall for a fraud or to infect your system with malware.
Of course, sometimes your domain name really is about to expire, and email inboxes do fill up over time—but you should have been given plenty of advance warning from your genuine provider.
Want more information and help with information security in your business? Contact the Click and Protect team on 0113 733 6230, or use our web form.
