blog Post # 2

Know the different security threats

The best way to guard against email fraud is to keep yourself well-informed of the risks involved in accessing the internet and how to keep your online transactions secure:

EMAIL FRAUD
“Phishing” is one of the most common types of email fraud. This involves sending a fraudulent e-mail message or “spoof” which appears to have come from a legitimate source to entice the user to visit a phony website and provide personal and confidential information such as UserIDs and passwords.

Please keep in mind:
PNB will never ask you to provide your password by e-mail. We will also never send you an e-mail requesting that you visit a website to provide us with that information. If you receive such a request, please do not respond or click on any links or attachments contained within them.
If you believe that you have received a fraudulent e-mail pretending to have come from PNB, please forward the message immediately to ibs.mail@pnb.com.ph. Delete the e-mail after it has been forwarded to us.

How to spot a potential phishing scheme:
· To catch the user’s attention, “spoofed emails” are usually alarming or have a sense of urgency (e.g. “Your account has been blocked. Failure to update your records will result to account suspension.”
· Just because an e-mail or website appears to be from a legitimate company does not mean it is. Phishing schemes are designed to look real and fraudsters will often use logos, trademarks, or even the entire look and feel of a valid web page to trick users into believing that it is genuine. If trademark images or logos appear to be different or distorted, the e-mail or website is likely a fake.
· Typos and other errors are often the mark of fraudulent emails or websites. Be on the lookout for typographical or grammatical errors and overformal or inappropriate writing, including poor visual or design quality.

Security Tips
· If you do not know the source of an e-mail or if it looks suspicious in any way, do not open it. Delete e-mails from unknown senders without opening them. Do not open attachments; this may release a virus in your computer to track your personal information. Disregard and delete spam, chain and junk e-mails.
· Check if the website is “secure” by checking the Universal Resource Locators (URLs) which should begin with “https” and a closed padlock icon on the status bar in the browser is displayed. To confirm authenticity of our site, double-click on the lock icon to see the security certificate information.
· When accessing the PNB website, manually type www.pnb.com.ph into the URL address bar and refrain from clicking a hyperlink to access it.
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Your defense:
Prevent threats and malicious programs which cannot be detected and removed by most common anti-virus programs by installing anti-spyware/adware programs which must run regularly into your computer.
· Security HolesSecurity holes or “bugs” are programming errors used by unauthorized persons to access computer networks or web servers from the internet and compromise them. As these defects are discovered, “patches” or “updates” are usually developed by software publishers to fix the errors.

· Spam
A spam is an unsolicited email on the internet. Some companies market their products and services by sending advertisements to a list of email addresses collected from the internet. This has become a major problem among internet users as “spams” fill-up their mail storage memory and create annoying pop-up windows.Your defense:You may install anti-spam software to help you control influx of unwanted emails. It can help you filter your emails by identifying potential spams and create a blacklist of senders. It may also let you view the source of the email, the subject and the attachment so you can decide if you want to keep it or delete it before you download the message.

· Virus, Worm and Trojan Horse
A virus is a program or code that replicates by being copied. It may be transmitted as an attachment to an email or present in a downloaded file or diskette/CD. Viruses can infect other programs, erase data in your computer or cause your hard disk to require reformatting.A worm is a self-replicating virus that resends itself as an email attachment or as part of a network message. Worms consume system resources (time, space and speed) in replicating with the intent of slowing down or halting computer tasks including internet use.A Trojan Horse, unlike a virus, does not replicate itself. It is a program that masquerades as a harmless application like a game or image file that has a malicious intent of causing damage when run into your computer.

Your defense:
Install anti-virus and firewall programs on your computer to protect against hackers and viruses. An anti-virus software scans emails and files for viruses that may be attached. It will trigger you whether it is safe to open a file/attachment or delete it immediately without opening it. Make sure to run anti-virus program regularly and update it frequently to guard against new viruses.Make it also a point to install firewalls to prevent entry of malicious programs and unauthorized access to your computer. This is especially important if you connect to the internet via a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem where you face a higher risk for malicious activity when you transact online.