Scammers often piggyback phishing campaigns on top of major announcements that interest large groups of people. The up-coming Windows 11 release is no different. Microsoft is distributing lots of email messages and web articles with news and preparation tips, as are their partners and news organizations. Phishing campaigns during this time benefit from camouflage as common phishing signs can be overlooked in the “noise”. Compounding this is the increasing sophistication that is being used in these campaigns.
A good overview of the October 5 release is at https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2021/08/31/windows-11-available-on-october-5/
TIP: “Hover” your mouse-cursor over the link above to verify the actual URL link matches the blue underlined label, it should look like this:
Other current news items that will surely spawn phishing messages are:
- Windows Server 2022 – General release September 1, 2021
- Tropical storms & hurricanes (Ida, Nicholas)
- Covid mandates & vaccines at schools
If you receive a news email that you’re not familiar with, don’t click any links in the message and don’t open attachments. Instead, open a web browser and search for the news organization. Once at their site, use their search field to find the article you were interested in that was highlighted in the email. This way you find the news of interest, and you greatly reduce the chance of infection.
If there’s a phone number in the email message, don’t call it. Instead, open a web browser and search for the organization you’re interested in. That website will have methods to contact them that are legitimate.
Remember to look for common signs of email and social media phishing campaigns: https://www.leeshanok.com/wp-content/uploads/Phishing-Email-Red-Flags.pdf
NEXT STEPS: If you’ve received an email message you’re not sure about, contact our team, and we’ll let you know if it’s malicious.
If you regularly communicate with other firms, their potential lack of security preparedness can impact your firm. Encourage them to contact us & we’ll help them assess their own cybersecurity to keep you both secure.
Want to better recognize and handle threats to your data and devices? Register for our free cybersecurity webinar series “IT Security for the Common Worker 101 A & B” at https://www.leeshanok.com/news/events/
Your technology Partner,
The LeeShanok Team
Phoenix: 602-277-5757 | Tucson 520-888-9122 | itsupport@leeshanok.com
