The last numbers I saw showed that around 20 percent of phishing e-mails and sites fooled their victim into giving up info. That is a big number and that could explain why phishing attacks have only skyrocketed in the last year.
So if you manage to discover a phishing website or malware please take the time to report it. With this simple act, you could save countless other people time, money, and heartache. The faster these things get reported the less profit the crooks get and we make the web a safer place in the process!
Working in IT I run across bad stuff all the time and I like to take 5 minutes to report it. If nothing else it may save my other users from falling into a phishing or malware trap and that could save our company lots of time and money. It is well worth it for 5 minutes of work if you ask me.
Most web browsers look at Google’s or Microsoft’s unsafe page list. So those two lists cover just about everything when it comes to phishing. Malware is a bit harder because there is no real master list. Because of that, I like to take the time to submit to at least a few of the bigger ones.
Below I have compiled a list of places you can report phishing and malware.
Report Phishing Pages to Google
Click here to report a phishing page to Google. Lots of other browsers like Firefox also use this list. So it is a good place to start.
Report Phishing Pages to Microsoft
To Report unsafe sites to Microsoft you have to be using their browsers. I am not sure why they have done this but at this point, I have not found any other way.
In Edge, you open the menu with the three dot icon on the top right. Then go to “Send Feedback”. On that page, there is a button to “Report unsafe site”.
In Internet Explorer you click the gear icon on the top right then go to “Safety” Then to “Report unsafe site”.
Report Phishing to PhishTank
Other services like OpenDNS use PhishTank to block bad sites.
List of Places to Report Malware
Submit malware samples to Microsoft
Submit malware samples to Avira
Submit malware sample to Symantec
Submit malware sample to McAfee
Antivirus Programs
If all else fails and malware makes it onto your computer then an antivirus program is your last line of defense. If you do not have one then you better hope you have a good back up and time to restore everything. Anything is better than nothing but here are a few suggestions.
Also check out 4 ways to prevent ransomware! Good luck out there and stay safe!
