Tip #4623 - Gmail's Phishing Protection
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Gmail's
Phishing Protection
We all know that
phishing is annoying, don't we? Sometimes it's really hard to tell
whether an e-mail is legitimate or not and that can lead us into some
trouble. Well, I’ve got the solution for you today! Instead
of playing the guessing game, you can use Gmail’s forwarding
feature to easily determine whether or not an e-mail is safe. Interested?
Then let's check it out!
Gmail’s
Forwarding Feature
First of all, Gmail
(like many other e-mail programs) allows you to forward your e-mails
to another e-mail address. For example, my e-mail address could be
brandonzubek@gmail.com, but because people often misspell my name,
I could forward all e-mails sent to brandonzubeck@gmail.com or brendanzubek@gmail.com
to my real, correctly spelled e-mail address. That way, I can ensure
all my e-mails always get to their destination. So, to forward your
e-mails, simply follow these directions:
1.) Log in to
Gmail and click on Settings in the upper right hand
corner of the page.
2.) Click Forwarding
and POP/IMAP.
3.) Next, click
the option that says "Forward a copy of incoming mail"
and specify the e-mail address you want your mail sent to.
4.) Scroll down
and click Save Changes.
Your e-mail will
then be forwarded!
Applying
Gmail's Forward to Your Phishing Battle
Okay, I can hear
you all saying, "Yeah, I understand that, but what does it have
to do with phishing?"
I know that’s
what you're most interested in, so here you go. Here’s what
you can do!
Let's say I use
PayPal, eBay and some discussion forums and I have created three e-mail
accounts, one for each use:
brandon-paypal@gmail.com
brandon-ebay@gmail.com
brandon-forums@gmail.com
All of those redirect
to my main account of brandon@gmail.com.
At the top of
all the Gmail e-mails you receive, there is a To:/From: field. It
looks something like this:
Now, to me, "YouTube
Service" means YouTube sent the e-mail directly to brandon@gmail.com.
However, take a closer look at the To:/From: field:
That means YouTube
sent the e-mail to brandon-forums@gmail.com, but the e-mail was forwarded
to the e-mail Inbox I am looking at now, which is brandon@gmail.com.
This is the tool
you can use to spot phishing. For example, if you receive a message
supposedly from PayPal with the e-mail address of brandon-forums@gmail.com
at the top, you know the e-mail is a scam (phishing), because you
should only receive PayPal communications through brandon-paypal@gmail.com.
Confused? Well,
this may make it a little clearer. If you receive a message supposedly
from PayPal like this, you know it’s phishing. Of course, phishing
e-mails are not that obvious to spot, but
seeing that the e-mail was sent to brandon-forums@gmail.com tells
you the e-mail was sent by someone who knows that e-mail address.
And since PayPal only knows your brandon-paypal@gmail.com e-mail address,
it's obvious the e-mail didn’t really originate from PayPal.
Here’s a
fact for you: In 2007, in the United States alone, $3.2 billion was
lost to phishing. In the UK, one in 20 e-mail users claim to have
been victims of phishing in 2005. So,
all I have to say is don’t get phished! Be a smart e-mailer
and use the tactics we have gone over today. It's an easy way to keep
yourself protected in Gmail!
~ Brandon Zubek
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