LinkedIn phishing

Given the frequency with which we receive bank related phishing emails, it probably should have been no surprise to happen upon an email purporting to come from LinkedIn. This one appeared in the e-mailbox recently, apparently a reminder of an open invitation to connect that was still pending. At first glance, it looked quite plausible.

But, as the name of the individual who had supposedly sent the invitation to connect was not familiar, the message was examined more closely, and inspection of the e-mail addresses and other content contained in the message quickly made it clear that this message did NOT in fact originate with LinkedIn.

Since we experienced more than one instance like this over the past few weeks, here's an image of the fake reminder, and an image of a genuine reminder from LinkedIn so you can compare them and reject the fakes should you receive any...

The fake...

and the genuine article...

While we all constantly warn our children of the dangers of the internet, this is a good example illustrating that we too, as adults, need to practise a bit of 'situational awareness' while using the 'net if we're to avoid being cheated or attacked.