Website 101: How To DETECT Fake OR Fraudulent Websites
The CYBERCRIME Industry was valued USD 3 Trillion way back 2015 and by 2025, it is expected to be a USD 10.5 Trillion Industry, whew. And even as we speak now, it continues to run unabated, galloping with the huge strides NOT even your prized stallion can run parallel. So, in the midst of our Christmas holidays, why DON'T we spend a fraction of our time for Website 101: How To DETECT Fake OR Fraudulent Websites๐๐๐This is a snapshot of the actual email received by John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's Chief of Staff, His faux pas? He reacted [I'll say, he PANICKED] with this alert and clicked the "CHANGE PASSWORD". The consequences and ramifications of this action caused his account to be compromised [Imagine the tons of confidential emails in the Clinton Presidential Campaign that were unduly exposed] !@#$%?
Most browsers abide by a concept called the 'LINE OF DEATH', meaning, a user should NEVER trust anything below a certain point on the browser, called as the 'LINE OF DEATH'. An attacker can control everything below the line so you have to know where to look for reliable information. An ATTACKER can control are highlighted in RED and numbered:
- FAVICON - This is the website's ICON
- DOMAIN NAME - This is the URL which you must CLEARLY KNOW IN DETAIL
- FILE PATH/DIRECTOR - You must know if the correct website includes this info
- WEB CONTENT - This can contain any info the attacker wants it to be, includes a convincing spoof of a legit website
- PROTOCOL
- DOMAIN NAME
- SUB-DOMAIN
- TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN
- FILE PATH