Fraudsters try every day to get hold of the data of other users with phishing emails. With a quiz, Google wants to sensitize users to the recognition of these emails.
According to Opinion poll In 2021, phishing attempts (31.7 percent) and emails with malicious links or attachments (21.2 percent) took the top two places when it came to IT security incidents. One of the most popular gateways for malware is and remains classic email. Criminals try to get their victims’ passwords and personal data using various and unfortunately increasingly sophisticated methods. Some phishing emails are easy to spot due to spelling mistakes, incorrect formatting or other characteristics. Others are very well made and look deceptively real. Can you reliably identify phishing emails?
Google’s phishing quiz as a self-test
The company Jigsaw, subsidiary and incubator of the Google group Alphabet, would like to work with one quiz draw attention to the dangers and methods of typical phishing attempts. With eight questions you can check your sensitivity to dangerous content and test whether you would recognize the phishing email. First you have to enter a name and an e-mail address – both can be fictitious, because it is only about a simulation that is as practical as possible. With eight e-mails, you now have to decide whether it is a serious message or a phishing attempt. The surface of the “mail program” is designed to be interactive, so that you can, for example, examine the sender more closely. After the resolution, the program also shows you other points that you should consider for the respective mail.
The quiz was created on the basis of security training courses that Google conducted with more than 10,000 politicians, activists and journalists around the world. The quiz is therefore a good addition to sensitize yourself to phishing attempts. However, it is not suitable as the sole basis because it ignores some important aspects.
Tips to spot phishing emails
In the phishing quiz, Google gives additional tips on how to recognize the authenticity of an email. Bad German or an inconsistent design can expose an e-mail as a fake. But beware! Not every phishing email is recognizable at first glance. Do not let yourself be put under pressure by the content, such as urgently formulated instructions or threatened legal consequences. Instead, ask yourself whether it is plausible that the (supposed) sender is contacting you by email. If necessary, try to verify the mail by contacting the alleged sender via another means of communication.
Do not answer the e-mails and do not click on any links contained in them. It is best to only download attachments from absolutely confidential sources. TECHBOOK has put together a guide for you on how to recognize and deal with phishing emails. As protection against future attacks on sensitive data, experts generally recommend two-factor authentication, which is now the standard on many online platforms.