INTERNET SPOOFING & PHISHING

Spoofing (pretending to be from an URLs address that is not legitimate)
Phishing (e-mails leading consumers to counterfeit websites designed to trick recipients)

This is unfortunately an easy way to obtain your identity or, literally steal money from you. They will ask for information such as: credit card numbers, passwords, and personal information in order to carry out actions using someone else’s identity.

Ways to avoid Spoofing & Phishing:

The simplest way to catch spoofing is to watch for mis-typed web URLs.
Most will put the wrong locator at the end or leave out a character in the spelling.  

Examples:
www.mcrosoft.com (should be Microsoft.com)
www.netscap.com (should be www.netscape.com)
www.versign.com (in different font could display like this www.verisign.com)

But how would you have known?

The site addresses and content or email content can look so similar the consumer will most often not notice the slightest differences.

Web spoofing is a dangerous and nearly undetectable security attack that can be carried out on today's Internet. Fortunately there are some protective measures you can take.

Some short term Solutions to Spoofing:

1. disable JavaScript in your browser so the attacker will be unable to hide the evidence of the attack;
2. make sure your browser's location line is always visible;
3. pay attention to the URLs displayed on your browser's location line, making sure they always point to the server you think you're connected to.

This strategy will significantly lower the risk of attack, though you could still be victimized if you are not conscientious about watching the location line. DO NOT respond to such messages with your username, passwords, Social Security Numbers, or other information that can be used to falsify your identity.

Avoid Phishing:

Banks will never ask for the information above through email!

• Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information. Even if the email is digitally signed, you can't be sure it wasn't forged or 'spoofed'.
• Never use the links in an email to get to any web page, if you believe the message might be fake. Call the company, or log onto the website directly by typing their web address in your browser.
  DO NOT fill out forms asking for your personal information in email messages.
  

To ensure you are on a secure Web server, check the beginning of the URL in your browsers address bar - it should be "https://" rather than just "http://" .