Precautions to take when opening email attachments
Getting email attachments is a common thing these days, and it is, therefore, imperative that you larn to handle them with intendance, every bit they are often used as a vector to deliver a malware payload to your computer. Allow us take a look at some of the precautions you demand to have when opening email attachments.
The classic cases of unsolicited mail service with malicious file attachments are usually of this nature:
- You won a reward or a lottery, and you need to fill in the details in the attached grade
- Your business order has been canceled or that you got a new social club
- Emails that talk of some Invoices
- Work from habitation and earn money
- Pain relief or weight-loss programs
- Alphabetic character from a Bank, PayPal, etc., asking you to submit details as per the attachment or else the account volition get blocked, etc.
If you are using a expert antivirus software or an Internet Security Suite, the chances are that the malware file will be automatically quarantined equally soon as it is downloaded to your estimator. If yous are using an email customer like Outlook, still better for you.
These days most of the commonly used electronic mail service providers like Outlook or Gmail have good filters in place that move such email – especially those who take .exe or compressed folders with exe files – automatically to the Junk folder.
Merely however, you need to be warning at all times!
Precautions to accept when opening electronic mail attachments
First and foremost, never click on an electronic mail zipper that y'all were not expecting.
Next, check the e-mail ID of the sender. Is it from someone y'all know?
But fifty-fifty if the email ID looks familiar, e-mail spoofing and other hacks make it very piece of cake to send email using someone else'due south mail ID.
If your service or software provides, set your email preferences and so that attachments don't download or open automatically. This ordinarily is the default setting – simply never hurts to be sure. Brand sure that yous configure the Zipper Manager in Windows correctly.
Hover your mouse pointer over the attachment. Is information technology a .exe file? In that case, simply practice not download it. Is it an Part .doc file? And so again exercise not click on it every bit it could be a Macro virus. Now, what if it has another file extension? Even if this is the instance you demand to have sufficient precautions as malware writers can hands disguise a virus or a trojan or a ransomware file using any file extension.
If at all you cannot command your curiosity and yous want to bank check out the email zipper, do not select the Open option but instead select the Download choice. Once the file has been downloaded to your computer, correct-click on it and scan with your antivirus software.
If y'all wish to exist rubber, upload it and go information technology scanned with any of these complimentary online antivirus scanners.
Read: How to scan email attachments online for virus.
Recall, if the attachment file you lot download turns out to be malicious, it could infect your files and even wipe out your information or lock information technology, if it is a ransomware file. So y'all really need to be sure that the file yous downloaded before you open it.
My rule? If in doubt, I don't. Period.
Accept any more ideas? Exercise share the precautions you take.
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Source: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/precautions-to-take-when-opening-email-attachments
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