We already know that the Internet is a Mined field for privacy and cybersecurity of usersbut it never hurts to remember it. Especially when cybersecurity experts report New forms that cybercounts have to deceive their victims. Tk keaniniresponsible for technology in the cybersecurity company DNSFilterhas recently warned in The Wall Street Journal of a new form of deception after a very common action when the email input tray is managed: Cancel a subscription.
Here you have to distinguish between the button ‘Using’ Integrated in mail clients such as Gmail, Yahoo either Icloud And the option of the same name (‘cancel subscription’, ‘If you want to discharge, click here’ or similar) that appears in the form of link within the body of the mail.
In the first case, in which you do not abandon the application environment at any time, it is safe. Click or click on the second, however, It takes you out of the application and takes you to the open webwhich is where problems and cybercounts can begin to make their own. For that reason, Keanini points to the environment that ‘Trust is relative. I trust my email client, but not what is inside the mail ‘.
He ‘unsubscribe’ button that Gmail and others integrate into certain mails (newsletters, purchasing promotions, streaming services notifications, etc.) and that is accessible from the entrance tray, without even need to have to open the mail to use itit is an option known as ‘List subscription cancellation headers’ (List-Unsubscript Headers). These links, managed by mail suppliers, are added in the matter or heading of the message and allow to unsubscribe with a single click. It is usually an option safer because it maintains all the interaction within the mail client and not on the open web.
It reveals that your account is active, valuable information for cybercriminals
The first problem, and does not escape the option integrated into the email platform either, is to unsubscribe from a subscription Allows the other party to know that this mail account remains active. This information is of interest to a cybershabador, as well as the fact that the user is willing to interact with certain forms of spam. This implies that That email can be a viable objective for phishing or other attacks.
You want to cancel a subscription and end up being a phishing victim
But the highest risk is in the time the safe environment of a platform as a Gmail and One enters the web to unsubscribe, following the link provided in email.
A possible scenario is that the link Rediress a phishing page or identity supplantation. It can have legitimate appearance, but it is Designed to steal your credentials. If they ask you for a user and password to confirm the cancellation, it is, in all likelihood, a hoax. They might ask for only mail, which is justified in providing the system with the address that must be discharged, but no reliable company will ever ask you for a password to perform this action. According to DNSFilter, 1 in 644 links to cancel a subscription lead to malicious sites.
What can you do to protect yourself when you cancel a subscription
- Use the integrated function of unsuccessful ‘from your email clientNot the link sent by the mail sender.
- Mark mail as spamso that the following will automatically go to that folder and you will not have to cross with them again. If you are fair of space, do not worry about which they occupy since they are automatically eliminated at 30 days.
- Use disposable email addresses. Apple offers the function ‘Hide my email’ That, when registering in a service, it generates a random address that forwards the emails to the main account. Google It has a similar option for Google One subscribers, but that still does not have broad availability. Meanwhile, you can use a service like Firefox Relayof Mozillato create anonymous email addresses that redirect messages to your real email address.