Zero-Knowledge Proof – How It Works
Zero-knowledge proof is a cryptography technique that enables one party to prove knowledge without revealing it. – Read how it works here.
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Your parents must have taught you: “Don’t talk to strangers. His presents may look super delicious, but he might be a weirdo/criminal. He also might want to do some serious harm to you, aside from giving you diabetes. Be careful, you easily bamboozled youngster, you!” They cared about our safety, and it was important advice way back then.
Today, for adults, safety is also vital. Actually, we’re going to teach you something similar, with only one small amendum, “Do not open strange emails. The criminals might send you dangerous links that look completely innocent. They might want to harm you. Be careful!”
For example, for the owners of an ICO, the risk of being deceived by a stranger or simply being hacked is pretty high due to publicity and business fame among the members of the crypto community. Also, managers of ICO projects are responsible not only for own assets and funds but also for the financial and private safety of their community members. In Hacken, we do our best to prevent phishing of our investors and followers as we see it as one of our main responsibilities.
Not to allow the black hat hacker to steal your money, confidential information, and prospects for development, it’s necessary to stick to some basic rules. One of the most common methods used by a hacker is phishing.
In 2016, 76% of all businesses turned out to be the victims of hackers who used phishing, and of course, it affected their efficiency and income. What’s even the most alarming aspect of this method is that you might not even notice how you gave full access to your financial details to the black hat hacker.
There might be an email with a simple link that you need to follow to “confirm your email” for the bank. In fact, once you follow the link, the hackers receive full access to everything they need. If you look at the real website, and the fake website, created by hackers, you wouldn’t be able to find any difference, but it’s also a colossal danger. The cybersecurity threat should motivate business owners to protect their companies in all possible ways, and if you’re looking for ways on how to prevent phishing, we have something special up our sleeves just for you.
Considering the rapid growth of the IT sector and increasing number of phishing attacks on members of the crypto community and investors at large, the Hacken team decided to provide 7 fundamental tips which will help you avoid being duped.
Phishing and … What is the second most dangerous attack on the ICO project? Check it!
1. Who Is The Sender?
If you receive any link to an external website by means of social media, email, and any other messenger, you should straight away determine either the source of the link is credible. If the link was sent from the account of your friend, you might even ask what this link is for and about. If the sender is a stranger, there’s always a higher risk of being deceived. Thus, you have to make sure that you won’t find anything risky by opening it. In this case, even your friends should understand the fact that phishing protection is the top priority for you.
2. Do They Know You?
One of the major ways to identify that the email you received from an unknown person is suspicious, is to look at the way as to how the greeting is formulated in the letter. For instance, if you can see, “Dear Customer” instead of your name or last name, that right there, is a rock solid reason to treat the email suspiciously. In the majority of cases, serious legal organizations, like banks, know your name and the details of your account. Thus, there’s no need for them to call you, “Customer” or “Member.” Moreover, such an appeal reduces response rates and conversion, so legit organizations send personalized and customer-oriented messages.
3. Pay Attention to Call to Actions in The Letter.
If you open the email and see an alarming statement like, “Your bank account was blocked, please, follow the link to restore it ASAP,” or “Special offer from Hacken.io, Join Our NEW Telegram Chat NOW to get HKNs with 30% BONUS” it’s in fact one of the most tried-and-true methods for making you do something impulsively. People react emotionally when they have a financial mess on their hands. They want to resolve it right away, and it might make them act unreasonably. In the event of such an email, it might be appropriate to call your bank or contact the community manager of the project to make sure that the situation isn’t fake one.
4. Make Sure That There Are No Mistakes
The emails from well-established companies, banks or government organization never ever contain errors. They’re designed in an appropriate way and have a special branding. For example, look at this Hacken’s mail. Despite the branding and lack of errors, it was sent from the official address of our support. So, if you noticed any kind of error or design issues, you can be confident that the email should be blocked. Your anti-phishing measures never can be too strict when you’re taking care of business. If you’re the owner of an ICO business, you might be a target for black hat hackers who gather information about your accounts, clients, and financial affairs. Thus, all activities directed at protecting your business from phishing, outside of nuclear weapons, are more than justified.
5. Pay Attention to the Domain and Check to See If It’s Authentic
The URL of phishing websites look similar to the real deal, and there might be difficulty in zeroing in on the difference, especially when you’re not a professional link builder. At the same time, it’s possible to determine the signs of the fake websites in the link, even if you know next to nothing about it. To begin with, the link might include unknown words, signs, and marks. If you see the familiar name of a website, say for instance, PayPal, but the name of the domain after it is not real, the website has probably been created to steal money from you. In this case, you should not insert either your login or password, but just jettison out of there immediately.
6. Green Address Bar
The next thing you can do to make sure that the website isn’t fake is to check the address bar of the website. If it’s green, it means that Extended Validation (EV) Certificate is used, and the website has proven its credibility and legality.
7. Trust Your Browser!
There are browsers that are able to detect phishing attacks and warn users about the issue. For instance, Mozilla Firefox might help you be protected from dangerous links by showing the appropriate notifications at the right time.
8. Report Phishing Efforts or Fake Websites.
If you’re a run of the mill internet user who’s received a phishing email that encourages you to visit a fake website, you should follow the next steps. First, you should contact the support team of a company that provides e-mail services (i.e. Google for Gmail users, Microsoft for Outlook users etc.) to report a criminal’s efforts. Secondly, you should inform an administrator of the real website/management of the brand about the existence of their website’s fake replica to enable them to eliminate it.
If you’re the owner of an IT company or ICO project, you should contact companies specialized in anti-phishing, to protect your business, your investors and their funds. At Hacken, we provide our clients with 24/7 anti-phishing protection, and rescue solutions to eliminate phishing efforts within tight deadlines. In this way, you will be able to reduce the risk of losing the money and data of your investors.
If at one time you forgot to check the URL, or accidentally entered your login wrongly, it might lead to major financial losses. In turn, the services of the qualified white hat hackers who will check your system and protect you from the phishing danger is cheaper than any possible financial losses from phishing. If you want to invest in tokens and use a fake website for it, your money will be taken by criminals.
Do you know where to report phishing attack? Check in our guide!
So please, be attentive and follow the steps provided above to avoid being phished. Even if you’re careful and attentive, the means and methods of black hat hackers are becoming ever more sophisticated. Thus, you might miss something important. Pay close attention to your security!
