In order to protect yourself from phishing attacks, it’s important for you to fully understand what these types of cyberattacks look like. Therefore, we have created this 10-question quiz to test your knowledge of phishing scams, such as spear phishing, whaling, social media phishing, voice phishing, and smishing. According to a study conducted by Proofpoint, 74% of phishing attacks that targeted US businesses in 2020 were successful. Anyone who regularly uses email for work (both on-site and remote workers) is highly recommended to take this quiz, which should take no longer than 10 minutes.
Why Take This Quiz?
This quiz will help you learn about all aspects of phishing, including red flags related to sender email addresses, greetings and signatures, other strange wording in email bodies, and what types of links and attachments (like PDFs) are considered “suspicious.” Remember that spelling and grammatical errors are also red flags of phishing scams.
A sense of urgency is another common characteristic of phishing emails, so remember to proceed with caution if an unknown sender requests that you verify your account information “immediately” or you may face consequences such as a canceled account. During the pandemic, many malicious agents took advantage of widespread health concerns to launch phishing attacks, as well as the fact that many people were using video communication technologies like Zoom and Google Meet to speak with both coworkers and friends and family. Many cyberattackers often try to impersonate major companies like Microsoft and Amazon to target people. Phishing attacks on LinkedIn have also become frequent in recent years.
The Phishing Quiz
For this quiz, be sure to check every part of the email in each question. This includes the sender and recipient names and email addresses, the body of the email, and the signature. Proofpoint’s report noted that even though 95% of companies claim that they train their employees to detect phishing attacks, these types of cyberattacks are still the most probable causes of data breaches. Additionally, 96% of social engineering attacks occur via email, per Verizon. Therefore, it’s especially important to check and respond to emails while using a secure network.
There are 10 questions in this quiz. Review each image carefully and determine whether the email appears legitimate or is likely a phishing attempt.