Phishing is one of the most common cybersecurity threats to small business owners.

Phishing is when an individual tries to steal sensitive information by impersonating a trustworthy source. Not using a Professional Email Address for business makes you and your customers more vulnerable to this kind of attack. For example, if your email is samscomputers@gmail.com anyone could create a similar email like samcomputers@gmail.com and send an email like this:

Dear customer,

There was a problem with your recent order. Please click here to update your credit card information as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Sam
Sam’s Computers

A customer might not notice a slight alteration in your email address and provide credit card information or passwords to someone outside of your organization.

A professional email like billing@samscomputers.com is an important first step to protect your customers and your business from these types of attacks.

A similar attack could be used to steal sensitive information from your employees.

Susan,

I am locked out of our WordPress website. I need to update our information ASAP. Can you send me your log in credentials?

Thanks,
Sam
Sam’s Computers

A professional email address helps identify who is inside and outside of your organization, helping you avoid attacks like this.

If everyone in your organization has an email like sam@samscomputers.com and susan@samscomputers.com an email from samcomputer@gmail.com is a big red flag.

Phishing is especially dangerous for small business owners and their customers because creating a misleading email doesn’t require a lot of technical expertise. What makes a phishing attack successful is intimate knowledge of your business. Competitors or former employees could launch this type of attack on  your business.

Red Sunflower, Inc. can help protect your business from these types of attacks. To get started, build a build a quote with the Quote Generator app.