How can I tell if an email or Web site is "suspicious"

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How can I tell if an email or Web site is "suspicious"

While you may be in the privacy of your home reading this blog, by connecting to the internet you might as well be in Times Square. People may not be able to see that you�re reading this in your rattiest sweats (although maybe some of them can), but you�re interacting with people either directly or indirectly each time you get your email or surf the web. While most of us have a fair idea of how to deal with strangers while we�re out and about in real life, it doesn�t seem that most people understand the rules of dealing with strangers on the internet. And truly, to a certain extent everything on the internet should be considered a stranger initially. You can�t exactly sense email senders/websites to verify they are who they say they are like you would in person, so you need to be a little more thorough.

It�s not news to say that most email viruses are spoofed to appear to be from someone trustworthy. They can seem to be from your friends, your ISP, the FBI, an AV Company� anything that can make the request appear urgent or trustworthy to you. It is not rude, if an email comes to you unexpectedly with webpage links or attachments, to politely inquire whether someone intended to send you that email. (i.e. �did you mean to send this to me?� vs. �zOMG!!1!!1 YOU (%*&\1, YOU SENT ME A VIRUS!!!�) The email will either go to your friend, or to the ISP/FBI/AV company that�s probably gotten thousands of such inquiries - it�s not going to go back to the virus writer. If the email indicates that you should not reply to it, call the company it purports to be from, or go to their website from your own bookmark or by typing in the URL. Do not click the link in the email. Computer Security Research - McAfee Avert Labs Blog