Spam vs Phishing Emails: Two Dangers to Email

E-mail is a service widely used on the Internet by users. It is also part of the day-to-day life of organizations and companies. A means of communication that in many cases is essential to carry out daily tasks. However it is also used by hackers to carry out their attacks. In this article we are going to talk about how to differentiate spam from phishing . Both are dangerous, but let’s see how they can affect us.

Email attacks on the rise

It is a reality that attacks through e-mail have increased a lot in recent times. Cybercriminals rely on this type of means to infect their victims, sneak malware, steal information …

Spam vs Phishing Emails

There are many attacks that can be used through these tools. It is a major problem, which can seriously compromise the security and privacy of users. An example is sending fraudulent attachments that actually contain malware and could render our computer useless.

But within the different types of attacks or strategies that hackers use, two can stand out above the rest: Spam and Phishing. The vast majority of users have suffered an attempted identity theft attack at some point, and many more have received spam or spam.

Now, are both cases dangerous? The truth is that yes, although they have their differences.

Spam vs Phishing: Two Dangers for Email

Both Spam and Phishing are two terms that constantly appear when we talk about email. They are very present and that makes our security in danger, logically.

What is spam

If we begin to explain what Spam is to show later how it differs from Phishing, we can say that it is the junk mail that we receive in our inbox.

At first we can say that it is not always dangerous . Spam can simply be annoying advertisement flooding our inbox. But yes, it can also become a significant danger to our safety.

Spam can be emails that we receive with the intention of collecting personal data. We already know that user information has great value on the web. It can be used to include us in targeted advertising mailing lists, impersonate our identity on social networks or even sell it to third parties.

How could spam be dangerous? For example if we are part of a campaign in which the objective is to collect information. They can request data from us through a response we give by e-mail . Also even those messages contain malware, malicious links to insecure pages or files that seek to attack our computers.

Therefore we can say that Spam is a real threat to computer security. We must always take care of this type of email and not open attachments that are insecure.

Direcciones IP hexadecimales para colar Spam

What is Phishing

On the other hand we have Phishing . Although they are also malicious emails such as Spam, the truth is that they differ. In this case, it is not usually advertising or junk emails, but quite the opposite: they try to look like legitimate emails, where they show us some type of relevant information.

The goal of Phishing is to steal our credentials and passwords . Therefore, they supplant the identity of legitimate services and platforms. What do they do to achieve it? They generally use fear, time or the need of the users.

For example, they can say that our account has been stolen, that we have intruders and that therefore we need to change the password as soon as possible. Logically, when entering the data through the link they offer, we are sending that information to a server controlled by the attackers.

They could also pose as a company that we have contracted to have an Internet connection, a store where we usually buy, etc. They can tell us that there has been a problem of some kind and that we must log in to correct it, for example. Even request our data and passwords posing as a bank.

Therefore, Phishing is a very important threat that we can suffer on the Internet. It is something that has grown a lot in recent years and we always need to maintain common sense to avoid making mistakes.

In short, Spam and Phishing are two terms that are very present on the Internet and that could put our security at risk. Each of them uses different strategies, but in both cases we must be very careful.

How to avoid Spam and Phishing

Luckily we can take into account certain tips to avoid being victims of both Spam and Phishing. It should be noted that we can apply these recommendations in both cases.

Do not make our address public

One of the main tips is not to make our email address public. It is an error, for example, to enter a public forum , where anyone could access what we are writing, and leave the written address there. This could be used by bots to send Spam or even include us in Phishing campaigns.

Therefore something essential is to maintain privacy in this regard. It is not a good idea for our e-mail address to appear on any public site on the Internet.

Be careful where we check in

You also have to watch where you register . When using Internet services we can leave personal data very frequently. For example in social networks or any page. Is that site safe? We must always inform ourselves in case of doubts. The goal is that our data does not end up in the wrong hands.

Always browse safe networks and sites

Of course, we must always take care of the networks to which we connect . For example, we must avoid wireless networks that can be used by intruders to launch their attacks. Also the sites to which we connect and that could contain malware. It is essential that we take care of all these details.

Have security tools

Security tools , although they cannot prevent spam and Phishing emails from entering our inbox at first, they can help us prevent malware from spreading. In the event that we are victims of some type of attack, it is essential that we always have a good antivirus.

Common sense

Last, but perhaps most importantly, common sense . We must always avoid problems and errors caused at the user level. For example, make our address public, use a malicious tool that can collect our data, click on malicious links, download dangerous files …