In the email, there will be an attachment to open or a link to click. fraudulent activity has been detected on your account). The email will seem legitimate, and it will have some urgency to it (e.g. In a phishing attack, an attacker may send you an email that appears to be from someone you trust, like your boss or a company you do business with. Since they rely on human curiosity and impulses, phishing attacks can be difficult to stop. When an attacker wants you to install malware or divulge sensitive information, they often turn to phishing tactics, or pretending to be someone or something else to get you to take an action you normally wouldn’t. Of course, chances are you wouldn't just open a random attachment or click on a link in any email that comes your way-there has to be a compelling reason for you to take action.
This can include clicking a link to download a file, or opening an attachment that may look harmless (like a Word document or PDF attachment), but actually has a malware installer hidden within. Once malware is in your computer, it can wreak all sorts of havoc, from taking control of your machine, to monitoring your actions and keystrokes, to silently sending all sorts of confidential data from your computer or network to the attacker's home base.Īttackers will use a variety of methods to get malware into your computer, but at some stage it often requires the user to take an action to install the malware. “Malware” refers to various forms of harmful software, such as viruses and ransomware. Attackers love to use malware to gain a foothold in users' computers-and, consequently, the offices they work in-because it can be so effective. If you've ever seen an antivirus alert pop up on your screen, or if you've mistakenly clicked a malicious email attachment, then you've had a close call with malware. Session Hijacking and Man-in-the-Middle Attacks.