14 DAY TRIAL // Phishing is one of the most dangerous online activities because they are usually targeting banks or other financial organizations that can allow the attackers to earn a considerable amount of money in a matter of seconds. Basically, a phishing attack starts with an email message and ends right after you enter your information. Let me explain it better: usually, the attackers are sending millions of emails to the customers of a certain bank to inform them that a re-login is required, demanding them to enter account information or credit card details such as PIN and security numbers.
Very often, the email messages are written in an official style so it's hard to make the difference by this criteria. Also, they are containing a link that should be opened by you and which requires you to enter your private information. Obviously, the link redirects the users to a page that looks almost the same as the original page of the bank. There, you should find a form to enter your username and other details required.
How can you make the difference? There is only one single element that can be noticed and that reveals a phishing attempt: the URL of the website. Often, the attackers are trying to find a domain that looks quite similar with the original one to trick the users and make them think they are on the original website. It's very important so analyze it very close. Also, keep in mind that the banks will not require you to enter your financial information on the Internet, no matter what happened.
At this time, there are a lot of applications that sustain they are able to detect phishing websites and alert the users when they visit them. But, as the number of these pages is continuously increasing, it's extremely hard to find a 100 percent efficient solution to protect you. So it's better to remain focused on these elements as long as you care about your money.