• Keep you web browser software up to date. Download any security updates that are available in order to protect your computer. Ensure that you you have anti-virus software installed and that it is up to date. Enable a firewall. This will help ensure that any personal information is protected.
• Review your website account carefully. Verify any transactions and report any disprepancies immediately.
  

What is phishing?

Phishing is an illegal attempt to mislead consumers into providing personal or financial information, including account numbers, passwords, etc..., via email or through fraudulent websites trying to imitate legitimate ones. The most common phishing 'attacks' occur through email disguised to appear as though it came from a reputable website/company/financial institution.

Most phishing attempts urge you to update/validate your account information, typically through a link in an email directing you to a fake website that appears to be legimate. Today, there are many phishing attacks that we all receive in emails. Some of the common lines or lures are:

• An email contains an "urgent" or "shocking" type message, requesting you to take immediate action on a matter relating to your account. Phishers often succeed by taking advantage of our human nature to 'act quickly without thinking'.
• A popup window claiming to be from a legitimate website, requesting personal infornation. Popup windows are not secure and you should never enter any personal information into one, unless you can see the secure padlock in the bottom bar of your browser.
• Email attachments: unless you know the sender of any email containing an attachment - DO NOT OPEN IT. Unsolicited mail is continuing to increase and is more often than not likely to contain a virus or a trojan unless you know its source and are expecting it.

• NEVER open an email containing attachments from a sender that you do not recognise. Legitimate websites/companies/financial institutions would never send you unsolicited attachments. Delete the email immediately.
• NEVER enter any personal information into a form within an email message or a popup. Email messages and popups are not secure. It is not safe to enter any information into a form unless the website is secured (i.e. you can see a padlock in the bottom panel of your web browser).
• NEVER provide any information in response to an email request or after clicking on a link in an email. Legitimate companies/websites NEVER ask customers for this type of information through email communication.
• NEVER interact with any website other than one that is secured. Before you submit any personal or financial information on a website:
  • Look for a locked padlock or key icon on the bottom bar of your browser, or
  • Ensure that the website address starts with a 'https://' rather than the normal 'http://'. The extra 's', indicates that the website is being shown to you over a secure connection (i.e. SSL ).

If you an unsure about any of this information, you should contact the website directly, via your usual email software or a secure web contact form. Do not use any links in an email you have received.