You\u2019ve heard of phishing, but what is whaling? A whaling attack is a targeted attempt to steal sensitive information from a company.\u00a0This may be done by hacking\u00a0a mailbox and then skimming financial or other sensitive information for malicious reasons.<\/p>\n
You may become aware of this when you notice an influx of bounce-back messages to your Inbox, for mail that you did not send. This can be remedied by resetting the password of the affected email address.<\/span><\/p>\n Phishing or whaling, however, can have more disastrous consequences, and compromised mailboxes can stay\u00a0undetected for a long time.<\/p>\n A mailbox is cracked due to the use of a weak password. A mail forwarder or message filters are then added to the mailbox to copy or divert mail to an external illegitimate address. An incoming invoice may then be fraudulently copied and updated with the hacker\u2019s banking details. As this invoice was expected, the payment is made without raising any flags.<\/p>\n Passwords should not be saved in plain text on your computer. Unprotected passwords can be tracked down by hackers, so consider using a password protection app like\u00a01Password<\/a>, which allows you to store all your vital information in a central, encrypted space.<\/p>\n Beware of phishing emails that entice you to enter your mailbox login details.<\/p>\n It\u2019s best to ensure that passwords contain a minimum of 14 characters, with at least one uppercase letter and one number for added resilience. Password apps, such as those mentioned above, provide strong passwords which don\u2019t have to be memorised.<\/p>\n While it may be more convenient to use the same password across numerous services, this can put you at serious risk. Hackers will try the email and password combination from leaked databases on other services. Services like HaveIBeenPawnd<\/a> allow you to check if your data has been involved in any security breaches. If you find your details on these services, you should change your passwords immediately.<\/p>\n See: How to change your mail password<\/a><\/p>\n If you don\u2019t already have anti-virus and anti-malware software installed on your computer, it\u2019s vital that you rectify this, and run regular scans to check for any vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re using a public wifi hotspot or computer, make sure it\u2019s reputable, and avoid logging into your online banking or sending any sensitive information if you don\u2019t know the network.<\/p>\n A popular\u00a0modus operandi\u00a0<\/i>for hackers is to install forwarders on email accounts, which allows them to intercept messages you receive, and conduct fraudulent actions where possible. To ensure that you\u2019ve not been targeted, check your account regularly for forwarders and mail filtering rules. Find out how:\u00a0Mailbox security checks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false,"plain":"You\u2019ve heard of phishing, but what is whaling? A whaling attack is a targeted attempt to steal sensitive information from a company.\u00a0This may be done by hacking\u00a0a mailbox and then skimming financial or other sensitive information for malicious reasons.\r\n\r\nYou may become aware of this when you notice an influx of bounce-back messages to your Inbox, for mail that you did not send. This can be remedied by resetting the password of the affected email address.<\/span>\r\n\r\nPhishing or whaling, however, can have more disastrous consequences, and compromised mailboxes can stay\u00a0undetected for a long time.\r\n Simple ways to protect your mailbox from hackers, including tips on creating strong passwords, and how to check if your mail is secretly being intercepted. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lsx_disable_title":"0","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[119,142],"tags":[21335],"topics":[10413,10377],"class_list":["post-19939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-email","category-spam-and-security","tag-mailbox-security-tips","topics-mail-security","topics-website-security"],"acf":[],"additional_meta":{"category_title":[{"term_id":119,"name":"Email","slug":"email","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":119,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Learn the basics and get going with our easy to set up email guides","parent":0,"count":125,"filter":"raw","term_order":"62","cat_ID":119,"category_count":125,"category_description":"Learn the basics and get going with our easy to set up email guides","cat_name":"Email","category_nicename":"email","category_parent":0},{"term_id":142,"name":"Spam and Security","slug":"spam-and-security","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":142,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Protect your website against spam and abuse","parent":119,"count":15,"filter":"raw","term_order":"100","cat_ID":142,"category_count":15,"category_description":"Protect your website against spam and abuse","cat_name":"Spam and Security","category_nicename":"spam-and-security","category_parent":119}],"tag_title":[{"term_id":21335,"name":"Mailbox Security Tips","slug":"mailbox-security-tips","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21335,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1033"}]},"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"marketing","author_link":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/author\/marketing\/","author_avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6ea315e112423b2b955cb020fbce2b0835956c6ad85ff0f13f1db298977eaaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19939"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xneelo.co.za\/help-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=19939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A typical scenario<\/h3>\n
Simple ways to protect yourself from cybercrime:<\/h2>\n
Keep your passwords safe<\/h3>\n
Create strong passwords<\/h3>\n
Maintain a watchful eye<\/h3>\n
Check your mailbox for forwarders<\/h3>\n
A typical scenario<\/h3>\r\nA mailbox is cracked due to the use of a weak password. A mail forwarder or message filters are then added to the mailbox to copy or divert mail to an external illegitimate address. An incoming invoice may then be fraudulently copied and updated with the hacker\u2019s banking details. As this invoice was expected, the payment is made without raising any flags.\r\n
Simple ways to protect yourself from cybercrime:<\/h2>\r\n
Keep your passwords safe<\/h3>\r\nPasswords should not be saved in plain text on your computer. Unprotected passwords can be tracked down by hackers, so consider using a password protection app like\u00a01Password<\/a>, which allows you to store all your vital information in a central, encrypted space.\r\n\r\nBeware of phishing emails that entice you to enter your mailbox login details.\r\n
Create strong passwords<\/h3>\r\nIt\u2019s best to ensure that passwords contain a minimum of 14 characters, with at least one uppercase letter and one number for added resilience. Password apps, such as those mentioned above, provide strong passwords which don\u2019t have to be memorised.\r\n\r\nWhile it may be more convenient to use the same password across numerous services, this can put you at serious risk. Hackers will try the email and password combination from leaked databases on other services. Services like HaveIBeenPawnd<\/a> allow you to check if your data has been involved in any security breaches. If you find your details on these services, you should change your passwords immediately.\r\n\r\nSee: How to change your mail password<\/a>\r\n
Maintain a watchful eye<\/h3>\r\nIf you don\u2019t already have anti-virus and anti-malware software installed on your computer, it\u2019s vital that you rectify this, and run regular scans to check for any vulnerabilities.\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019re using a public wifi hotspot or computer, make sure it\u2019s reputable, and avoid logging into your online banking or sending any sensitive information if you don\u2019t know the network.\r\n
Check your mailbox for forwarders<\/h3>\r\nA popular\u00a0modus operandi\u00a0<\/i>for hackers is to install forwarders on email accounts, which allows them to intercept messages you receive, and conduct fraudulent actions where possible. To ensure that you\u2019ve not been targeted, check your account regularly for forwarders and mail filtering rules. Find out how:\u00a0Mailbox security checks<\/a>"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"