Phishing And Spamming. The differences.

Hi there!

Hope you’ve had a great week. I did, and it’s been a week of rain. I like rain??

It has been an insightful couple of weeks discussing Phishing and today we’d be rounding up the series with the major differences between Phishing and Spamming. Thank you to everyone who has been sending feedback. Incase you missed my last letter about Vishing, a type of phishing carried out through phone calls, click here to read up.

As mentioned in my first letter in this series, Phishing is simply the act of tricking an unsuspecting individual into disclosing sensitive personal information by claiming to be a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Spamming on the other hand is called junk mailing for good reason. It’s existed for almost as long as the internet itself as a means of selling products or services to a larger market of buyers than have never expressed interest in those products or services. After obtaining the email addresses of a huge number of individuals, spammers bulk send their offers hundreds or thousands at a time.?

The difference between Phishing and Spamming is that, while they both may be inbox-clogging nuisances, only one (Phishing) is actively aiming to steal login credentials and other sensitive data. Spam is a tactic for hawking goods and services by sending unsolicited emails to bulk lists. While annoying, spamming is not nearly as dangerous as phishing, which tries to trick a user.

Let me help breakdown some of the major differences between both

·??????Phishing is targeted and intended to steal target’s data and private information. Spam mails are unsolicited messages sent in bulk by mail

·??????A sense of urgency is one tell-tale sign of phishing. Language like “only the first 50 respondents” or “offer ends tomorrow” will be found in the message. Spam doesn’t typically have a timeframe

·??????Phishing emails want you to click a malicious link. That link could then unleash malware or gain control over your computer or network. Spam links go to real websites trying to sell you something.

·??????Phishing emails are targeted to a person. The email likely has a salutation with the person’s name. Spam isn’t this personal; it’s broader. In fact, you may find that your email address is only in the BCC field. This is, of course, a sure sign that it’s spam.

·??????Some phishing emails take on the look of spam. Not all spam is dangerous. Most of it is just marketing nuisance that gets caught in your junk folder

·??????Phishing can occur via other electronic means while spam is strictly email related.

An important similarity is that Spam emails may at time be as dangerous as Phishing mails, as they may contain malicious software which may affect your devices. Hence are a few tips to protect you from spam.

Use multiple email addresses.

At least two, a private email address that you never put on the internet and use for only personal correspondence and a public email address that you use to sign up and register for services on the internet. Once your public email starts getting spam, you can ditch it and open another one.

Do not respond to Spam.

Responding to an unsolicited email alerts the sender that the email address is active. The spammer can then send the email address to other spammers and you end up receiving more spam.

Do not click unsubscribe

Often, spammers send unsubscribe letters to try to verify if email addresses are active, clicking the unsubscribe button will alert them that your email is active, leading to you receiving more spam email.

Use anti-spam filters

Invest in an anti-malware solution that also provides anti-spam features.

Side Gists

Yipee… it has been 3 impactful years at Cybersafe Foundation. As a foundation we set out to provide safe and secure digital access across Africa and it’s been 3 years of awareness campaigns, trainings and creating fun and educating content and we happy to say that we are closer to achieving our goal. We are grateful to everyone who continued to believe and support our vision from inception till date. We can’t wait to do more. Cheers to more impactful years ahead!

It is always fun writing you and I look forward to doing it again. In my next letter, I would be taking a look at Malware. You do not want to miss it

Till then, stay well and remain cyber safe! ??

Yours truly,

Bolatito