How to spot phishing attempts

Cybercriminals are increasingly using sophisticated tactics to impersonate trusted contacts, including vendors, partners, and even our own team members. Please review the following guidelines to help keep your data and systems secure.

The Golden Rules of Email Safety

1. When in doubt, start fresh: If an email feels even slightly “off,” do not hit reply. Instead, compose a brand-new email using a known, verified email address from your own address book or our official website.
2. Don’t click, navigate: Never click links or buttons in an email if you can avoid it. If an email tells you to log in, review a document, or check an account, open your web browser and go directly to the website yourself (or find it via Google).

🚩 5 Red Flags: How to Spot a Phishing Attempt

Phishing emails are designed to look legitimate, but they almost always contain one or more of these warning signs:

1. The “From” address doesn’t match the sender’s name.
Scammers will often change the “Display Name” to say “Ron Johnson,” but if you click or hover over the name to view the actual email address, it might be something like [email protected] or [email protected] (notice the zero instead of an “o”). Always check the exact email address.

2. A false sense of urgency or fear.
Phishing attacks rely on panic. Be highly suspicious of emails that demand immediate action, threaten to close an account, or urge you to pay an “overdue” invoice immediately to avoid penalties.

3. Unexpected requests for money or sensitive information.
We will never ask you to change payment routing numbers, wire money to a new account, or provide passwords via an unannounced email. If you receive a request like this, verify it by calling us directly at our known phone number.

4. Generic greetings or vague language.
While targeted attacks can be personalized, many phishing emails use generic greetings like “Dear Customer” or reference an attached “Document” without explaining what the document actually is.

5. Unexpected or strange attachments.
Never open unexpected attachments, particularly .zip, .exe, or macro-enabled Microsoft Office files, even if they appear to come from someone you know.

What to do if you spot a fake email

1. Do not click any links, open any attachments, or reply to the sender.
2. Forward the email to your IT/Security team so they can block the sender. Also, mark it as spam.
3. Delete the email from your inbox.
4. Verify via CyberOptik: If the email appeared to come from CyberOptik or Ron Johnson, contact our helpdesk or email us directly through our contact form: https://www.cyberoptik.net/contact/