What is phishing? 

I know most have heard the term before, but what is it really?  A quick search comes up with this definition.

The act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the users information.

I bring this up because recently, I had a customer forward me some emails from their bank that were claiming that the account may have been compromised.  There are many ways for bad guys to get your account information. One way is a keylogger.  A key logger tracks and sends every keystroke that is made and sends the resulting file to the bad guys. 

After thoroughly check the PC for any malicious software, it was determined that the PC was clean. After talking about the issue more deeply with the customer, it was also determined that they may have been "phished" unknowingly.  If you ever receive and email from a financial institution, the IRS, or any website you have an account with that asks to verify or confirm your information, immediately delete the email, and contact the website.  Do not click on any links within the email.  Open your browser and manually type in the address to get the contact info.  This is another reason why you should not use the same username/password combination for all of your accounts.  Once the bad guys have your information they will try anything to get more.

If you have any system concerns or questions, contact the CCS Retail Systems Support Department at 800-672-4806 or email us.

-Bryan