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Internet Safety - Phishing and Spam |
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What is
Phishing and Spam |
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See
what Phishing looks like |
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See what Spam looks like |
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Three
Simple Steps to Help Protect You on the Internet |
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What is Phishing and Spam |
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What is Phishing? |
The criminal practice of trying to
get people to reveal personal and/or financial information by sending
unsolicted email (spam) claiming to be from banks or other companies. These
emails usually claim the user’s information needs to be updated and requests
they click on a link in the email which takes them to a web page to update
their information. The web page may look like the page the user normally
sees for their bank (or credit card company or other business), but in fact
it is a copy and the criminals are able to capture all of the personal and
financial data the user enters.
No legitimate company will ever send out this type of email! No matter how
real they look...they are phishing scams!
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What is Spam? |
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Spam is unsolicited email, usually
sent out in bulk. Virtually no legitimate company will use this method of
advertising. Spam usually promises something to good to be true...a
free car or TV or gift card, earn money at home, drugs at deeply discounted
prices...even notices that you have won a lottery or someone has money for
you. |
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Why is it called Phishing? |
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Years ago there was a
crime which involved tricking the telephone system into providing
free long distance calls. The people who did this were known as
"Phone Phreaks" taking the "Ph" from phone and using it to replace
the "F" in freaks. These crimes were largely committed by amateurs
who used electronic boxes to emit tones which would dial a phone. As
electronic crime moved into the internet and personal computer era
the "Ph" substitution moved with it. When criminals send out email
seeking to get people to provide personal financial information they
are in fact "fishing" for victims. There are casting their net into
the water and seeing who they catch. |
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Why is it called Spam |
This term comes from a skit by
the Monty Python's Flying Circus television program which originated
on the BBC in Great Britain. In the sketch, a restaurant serves all
its food with lots of spam, and the waitress repeats the word
several times in describing how much spam is in the items. When she
does this, a group of Vikings in the corner start a song:
"Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam!
Wonderful spam!" Until they are told to shut up.
Thus the meaning of the term is something which keeps repeating and
repeating to great annoyance. It was first applied to unsolicited
advertising in a part of the internet known as Usenet. |
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