Phishing: Avoiding the hook

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Thornbury
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  'Phishing' is not about the time spent with family and friends during a summer vacation flinging lures into the river or lake. Instead it is when a cyber-criminal tries to reel in your personal information.

Cyber-criminals will target anyone or anything they see as an easy catch, and it is up to all Airmen to prevent any possibility for the phishers to enter our waters.

"Phishing is a social engineering technique used to gain access to your private or organizational information by using seemingly harmless email attachments or websites," said Kevin Gootee, 22nd Communication Squadron Information Assurance flight director. "This is done through a number of innovative methods, but most are under the guise of assuring you are compliant with the law."

Criminals may deceive others to believe they owe money to the IRS or a bank and request PI and/or banking information, so it is important to know that the email is sincere.

"Giving away personally identifiable information without checking the validity of the email or website makes each Airman and the Air Force vulnerable to a wide array of crimes," he said.  "Giving away organizational information or permitting others to access our networks can impede missions and cost the Air Force money and lives and affect the protection of our nation's security."

Most of the phishing on base is aimed specifically toward higher ranking Airmen, known as 'whaling,' because criminals are going for the big fish.

"As of right now the only emails we are receiving are to the commanders and the chief master sergeants," said Senior Airman Chance Trybe, 22nd CS IA cyber surety technician. "A lot of commanders are getting more and more of these emails."

Handling these situations properly is crucial so classified information doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

"Information assurance should be of utmost importance to all Airmen," Gootee said. "Operational security can easily go out the window over social media or email, as many do not understand what they may be giving away or who is actually at the other end of the email or website."

If you suspect that you are receiving emails that are phishing attempts forward the email to 22arw.ia@us.af.mil, the IA Org box.