Beware of phishing, protect your identity!

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Bikky Khosla | 07 Jun, 2011
We keep hearing about email accounts being hacked, but we hardly pay heed to or try to find out how one can protect oneself from identity hacking, also known as 'phishing'. Phishing is a trick used by unscrupulous elements prowling on the internet to steal your email and password. The question is: what do they stand to benefit from this? Your email accounts have important information related to your business, etc. Having access to your email account means having access to all the important mails you have in your email inbox.

You would have probably noticed that banks regularly send you mails warning you about phishing websites while banking online. While we are serious when it comes to just banking online, but most of us don't think or worry about phishing when using one's email account.

If your are wondering how phishers can get your email id and password, here's how it's done: the phisher will make a webpage that looks just like the login page of a website you're trying to use. Then the phisher comes up with a way to get you to click on the link to that page. Maybe it will say that 'a buyer is waiting to buy your products and if you click on the link you will get the buyer's details, etc.' If you click the link, you are presented with the fake login page created by the phisher, wherein it will ask for your email id and password. If you enter your details, the information will be be captured by the phisher, who will now be able to access your email account posing as you.

Then there will be some sites that may ask you to sign up for their forum or other features using the same password of the personal email account you had used while registering in the website. Never use the same password of your email account to register in any other website.

Having said that, phishing is easily preventable if you are a little vigilant. Here are some tips you can use to protect your email accounts and your identity. First and foremost, use different passwords for different accounts; secondly use strong passwords; and thirdly, change your passwords regularly.

I would once again like to reiterate that Tradeindia NEVER asks for passwords of users' personal email accounts. If you ever come across such a website or email asking you to do so, please report the same at helpdesk@tradeindia.com. Moreover, if you think your account has been phished, just change your passwords. Better to be safe than to regret later!