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Many of us have received similar emails as shown in the following screenshot. They appear as if coming from a genuine source, but in fact if we analyze them a little carefully, they are not. Such emails are called “phishing” because it depends on the users whether they will follow the procedure that the scammer is requesting or if they (user) will delete that email and be safe.
The links in the email may install malware on the user’s device or direct them to a malicious website set up to trick them into divulging personal and financial information, such as passwords, account IDs or credit card details. These techniques are too much in use with cybercriminals, as it is far easier to trick someone into clicking a malicious link in the email than trying to break through a computer’s defenses. Although some phishing emails are poorly written and clearly fake.

How to Detect a Phishing Email?

There are several ways to detect a Phishing Email, some of these methods are discussed here for better understanding.

Spelling and Bad Grammar

Cyber criminals generally make grammar and spelling mistakes because they use dictionary too often to translate in a specific language. If you notice mistakes in an email, it might be a scam.

Links in Email

Links in the email are always with hidden URLs, you don't click on it. Rest your mouse (but don't click) on the link to see if the address matches the link that was typed in the message. In the following example the link reveals the real web address, as shown in the box with the yellow background. The string of cryptic numbers looks nothing like the company's web address.
Links also may redirect you to .exe, or zipped files. These are known to spread malicious software.

Threats or They are too Good to be True

Cybercriminals often use threats that your security has been compromised. The above screenshot shows it very well. In our case the subject talking about Suspension.

Spoofing Popular Websites or Companies

Scam artists use graphics in email that appear to be connected to legitimate websites, but actually they take you to phony scam sites or legitimate-looking pop-up windows. In our case, there is this email of Amazon which is not a genuine one.

Salutation

Generally, if it is genuine you will have a personalized email like Dear Mr. John, but the cybercriminals, they don’t know your name except the email address, so they will use just a part of your email in the salutation or a general salutation.

Got Phished by Mistake?

What to do in case you think that by mistake, you got phished? In such a case, you can take the following measures −

• Change the passwords immediately of the account that you think has been hacked.
• Check if any money has been withdrawn or any payment done through your account. You can contact your financial institution directly for this.
• Contact the authority on whose behalf you got that email. You should also report to your account administrator.

Cookies are files, generally from the visited webpages, which are stored on a user's computer. They hold a small amount of data, specific to a particular client and website, and can be accessed either by the web server or the client computer which can be usernames, password, session token, etc.
This allows the server to deliver a page personalized to a particular user, or the page itself can contain some script which is aware of the data in the cookie and so is able to carry information from one visit to that website.

Types of Cookies

There are three different types of cookies −

• Session Cookies − These are mainly used by online shops and allows you to keep items in your basket when shopping online. These cookies expire after a specific time or when the browser is closed.
• Permanent Cookies − These remain in operation, even when you have closed the browser. They remember your login details and password so you don’t have to type them in every time you use the site. It is recommended that you delete these type of cookies after a specific time.
• Third-Party Cookies − These are installed by third parties for collecting certain information. For example: Google Maps.

The following screenshot shows where the data of a cookie is stored and to do this, I have used a plugin of Firefox which is called Cookies Manager+. It shows the date when a cookie will expire.

How to Block Cookies and Delete Them?

For security reasons that you think are right, the cookies can be disabled or deleted and it varies according to the Internet browsers.

Internet Explorer

You can use the following steps to clear cookies in the Internet Explorer.

• Step 1 − Press Start.
• Step 2 − Click Control Panel.
• Step 3 − Double click Internet options.
• Step 4 − Under the General Tab, you will see 'Delete temporary files, history, cookies, saved passwords...' Click Delete.
• Step 5 − The Delete Browsing History dialog box will appear, click the 'cookies' checkbox
• Step 6 − Click delete button at the bottom of the dialog box
• Step 7 − You will be taken back to the Internet properties dialog box. Click 'ok'.

Firefox

Keep in mind that the more popular a browser is, the higher the chance that it is being targeted for spyware or malware infection.

• Step 1 − Look at the top end of your Firefox window and you will see a 'Firefox' button. Click on it and click 'Options'.
• Step 2 − Click on 'Privacy'.
• Step 3 − You will see 'Firefox will:’ Set it to 'Use custom settings for history'.
• Step 4 − Click on the 'Show Cookies' button on the right side.
• Step 5 − If you want to delete cookies set by individual sites, enter the complete domain or partial domain name of the site you want to manage in the search field. Your search will retrieve the list of cookies set for that site. Click 'Remove Cookie'.
• Step 6 − If you want to delete all cookies, click the top of the Firefox window and click on the Firefox button. Click on the History menu and pick out 'Clear Recent History...' Select 'Everything' for the 'Time Range to Clear' option. The click on the downward arrow located next to 'Details'. This will open up the list of items. Click 'Cookies' and make sure all the other items are unselected. Click on the 'Clear Now' button at the bottom. Close your 'Clear Recent History' window.

Chrome

• Step 1 − At the top right hand side of your browser toolbar, click on the Chrome icon.
• Step 2 − Click on Settings.
• Step 3 − Scroll to the bottom and click 'Show advanced settings'.
• Step 4 − Under 'Privacy', you will see 'Content Settings', click on it.
• Step 5 − Under 'Cookies', you will see 'All cookies and site data', click on this. Please note that you can block cookies altogether from being set on your browser by clicking 'Block sites from setting any data.' Unfortunately, many websites you browse will stop working if you do this. It is better if you just periodically clear your cookies manually instead of preventing them from being set by your browser.
• Step 6 − You will see a full listing of all your cookies. You can click REMOVE ALL to clear all your cookies or you can pick a particular website and clear your cookies from that site.

Safari

This guide is for OSX Lion −

• Step 1 − Open Safari.
• Step 2 − Click Safari and then on Preferences. Click on 'Privacy’.
• Step 3 − Click on ‘Details’.
• Step 4 − You will see a list of websites that store cookies. You can remove single sites by clicking the 'Remove' button and selecting a site. If you want clear all cookies, click ‘Remove All’.
• Step 5 − When you have finished removing sites, click 'Done'.

Opera

Step 1 − Click 'Settings' at the top of the Opera browser.
Step 2 − Click 'Preferences' and select 'Advanced'.
Step 3 − In the 'Advanced' screen, select 'Cookies'.
Step 4 − At this point, you can select one of three options −

• Accept all cookies (this is the default setting)
• Accept cookies only from sites you visit and
• Never accept cookies

If you block cookies, most of the sites you visit will stop working. This is usually not a good choice. Your best default choice is to accept cookies only from sites you visit. This blocks cookies set by advertising networks and other third party sites. These third party sites set cookies to track your movements across sites to enhance their ad targeting capabilities.
Step 5 − Select 'Delete new cookies when exiting Opera'. If you want to use a specific website but don't want to keep any cookies for that site between your visits, select this option. It is not a good idea to use this option for sites you visit frequently.

With the usage of Internet, a number of activities take place in your computer which can be for good or bad and varies from identity thefts to people who hack into computers and steal private passwords, documents and files. The fact is that everything is online and opens us to these frauds and makes us victims, unless you have taken the necessary steps to protect your computer.
It is quite strange that till date, a lot of people don’t give much importance to Internet Security. They think that their computers are invisible, but as soon as they start using their computers for anything that involves logging onto the Internet, they are an easy prey, even for a teenaged hacker.
The following image gives you an idea of how things have changed over the years.

Impact from an Internet Breach

The potential losses in this “cloud” are discussed as follows.
Here is a list of some losses that can have a direct impact on you and others −

• Losing Your Data − An Internet breach can swipe away all the data that you have gathered over the years.
• Reputation Loss − Just think your Facebook account or business email have been hacked by a social engineering attack and it sends fake information to your friends, business partners. You will need time to gain back your reputation after such an attack. Or your webpage has been hacked and the hacker puts up an ugly picture on it, so a new customer that is visiting your webpage to get some information will see this picture named “HACKED” and the chances that he will go away without contacting you will be too high.
• Identity Theft − This is a case where your identity is stolen (photo, name surname, address, and credit card details) and can be used for a crime like making false identity documents or anything else.
   

With the ever-increasing usage of Internet, numerous activities take place in your computer and it can be for either good or bad. These activities vary from identity theft to people who hack into computers and steal private passwords, documents and files. The fact is that everything is online and opens us to these frauds and makes us victims, unless you have taken the necessary steps to protect your computer. In this tutorial, we will discuss how to use Internet in a safe and secure way, and the precautions that we need to take in order to protect ourselves from the open environment of Internet.

This tutorial has been prepared mainly for those professionals that are within the IT industry and who are IT specialists, System administrators, Security administrators and in the other applicable departments.This tutorial is intended to make the reader comfortable in getting started with Internet Security and its various other functions.

It is a basic tutorial where the reader can easily understand the concepts explained with a simple knowledge of how a company or an organization deals with its Internet Security.However, it will help if you have some prior exposure of cookies, phishing attacks,spamming, setting up firewalls, antiviruses, etc.