- Supply Ontario

Anatomy of a phishing email.

New phishing scams arrive by email every day. While these scams can vary in content, there are often similarities. Here are some things to look for that could indicate it might be a phishing email.

Can you spot all the phishing signs?

1. From Oskar Wolf <oskar.wolf@itsupportontario.com>
2. Subject: Urgent - Prevent your account form being deactivated

3. Dear Sir/Madam,

4. It has come to our attenshun that your account may have been compromised.

5. To prevent the deactivation of your account, please <!--->click here within 24 hours to log in and reset your password.

6. Thank you

Oskar Wolf

IT Support Desk

1, Do you recognize the sender? Does the sender's domain match its organization?

2. Does the subject create a sense of urgency?

4. Does the email open with a generic greeting or is it specifically addressed to you?

5. Do you spot typos or grammatical errors?

5. Does hovering over the link show a malicious-looking URL?

6. Does the sender claim to be a person of authority to trick you into trusting them?

If any of these indicators are present in an email, pause and think before taking action.
If the email appears to come from someone you think could be legitimate, but things don’t feel right, you can look up their contact information and call them to confirm the email.

Top 7 warning signs:

1. The communication is as from an unknown user, organization, or domain name.

2. The communication seemingly comes from someone within an organization, but with a non-organizational domain name. For example, your director is emailing you from a @gmail account.

3. The correspondence expresses a level of urgency.

4. The request is driven by a benefit or motivation such as financial benefit or scare tactics.

5. The content contains errors such as misspelled names, misused organizational terms or titles, or misrepresented or misplaced logos.

6. The tone, content or wording is inconsistent with what would be expected.

7. The email has attachments with unusual file names or links with an unusual URL.
What to do if you spot a phishing email?

Use the Report Message button on your Outlook toolbar to report suspicious emails, and select one of the following options: Junk, Phishing, or Not Junk. For more information, read our ariticle on How to Use the Report Message Button.

More resources and support

For more training and resources on cyber security, check out:

Supply Ontario’s intranet The Source for its Cyber Security Resource Centre
The provincial Cyber Security Ontario Learning Portal

If you have questions about this campaign, please contact [email protected].

UPDATED: Procurement Directives under the Buy Ontario Act: Read the latest update for more details.

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