Phishing, the devil is in the details!

With the European Cyber Security Month comes a new national awareness campaign organized by the Cyber Security Coalition and the Center for Cybersecurity Belgium. This year, the biggest digital threat in the spotlight is again phishing.

Phishing is a major annoyance to all of us: individual Internet users, businesses, organizations and the government. Not only are these messages annoying, but they also cause a lot of damage. Since 2020, the global incidence of phishing attacks has tripled, according to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). And Belgium is no exception.

The campaign teaches us how to protect ourselves more effectively against phishing, by using the "Safeonweb browser extension", a new tool which allows you to check if a website is safe to enter your personal details.

Four free Safeonweb tools help protect you from phishing

• Verdacht@safeonweb.be: always forward suspicious messages received at your personal e-mail address to verdacht@safeonweb.be. Suspicious links are investigated and blocked by the CCB. This way you help others not fall into the trap.
• Safeonweb app: stay on top of current phishing waves and install the free app on your smartphone.
• Surf without worries: become an expert in 10 min. Surf without worries, is a series of simple online training courses on cybersecurity.
• Safeonweb browser extension: the Safeonweb extension in your browser alerts you when you are visiting an unsafe website and when it is dangerous to enter your personal details.

Proximus not only supports this national awareness campaign as co-founder of the Cyber Security Coalition, but is a driving force in Belgian cybersecurity program.

At Proximus, we do everything we can to protect our customers against phishing!

Since November 2020, CSIRT has partnered with the Center for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) in the Belgian Anti-Phishing Shield program (BAPS) resulting in people surfing to fraudulent websites being protected and redirected to the CCB's warning page.

Belgian telecom operators, together with the government, are working on the "STOP Phishing" program. It consists of an anti-phishing and anti-fraud platform to detect and block both phishing e-mails and text messages, machine-generated fraudulent phone calls (robocalls) and signaling messages on mobile networks through AI software. Meanwhile, the platform is live for screening and blocking suspicious e-mails and text messages.

Small(er) actions also count. We are posting fake mails circulating in our name on social media (check the Facebook & Twitter accounts of our Proximus CSIRT), so that everyone can identify them and no one falls into the trap. Visit our website for more tips on how to protect yourself against digital fraude.