Michael Fertik Shares Six Tips to Foil the Phishers

In the wake of last week’s massive international phishing attack, which compromised over 30,000 e-mail accounts, many people around the world have been asking themselves, “What can I do to prevent something like this from happening to me?”

Recently, in an interview with Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, ReputationDefender CEO Michael Fertik shared some advice on how to avoid the increasingly complex traps of Internet scammers. Check out his six tips below.

1. The bigger the email service, the bigger the target on its back. If you use Gmail or another giant, you are more likely to be targeted, just as Windows computers attract more virus attacks than Macs. So consider a less mainstream and safer service such as Fastmail or Tuffmail.

2. Use non-obvious passwords. Avoid “password” for instance.

3. Change your passwords regularly. Use at least two among all your accounts, instead of a generic one.

4. Resist the temptation to click on links from sources that you trust less than 100%. Look at the email address and URL in detail.

5. Download Google Toolbar, which has a feature that warns users when they are visiting sites that have been reported as phishing.

6. Enlist anti-virus software that comes with anti-phishing detection that can detect some phishing sites before and after you click on the link. One example is McAfee Site Advisor (www.siteadvisor.com/howitworks/index.html).

For more tips on how to protect your identity online, check back to the ReputationDefender Blog often or follow ReputationDefender on Twitter.