Phishing and Security
What is phishing and vishing?
Phishing is an attempt, usually by email or website, to trick you into revealing personal or financial information by appearing to be from a legitimate source, such as Atradius. This information could include your date of birth, login information, account details, credit card details, PIN codes and more. Vishing is an attempt to obtain this information by phone.
How can I recognise phishing and vishing?
You should always be wary of any telephone call or message that asks for your personal or financial information or messages that refer you to a web page asking for this information. Always ask yourself whether contact from an apparently trustworthy organisation might be a scam.
How can I stay secure online?
Be wary. Atradius will never send unsolicited e-mail messages asking our customers to update or verify their personal and security details. Atradius will not telephone you to ask you to update or verify your information, in particular asking you to divulge your password. Your login credentials are personal to you and should not be divulged to any other person.
Be suspicious of generic greetings such as “Dear valued customer”; Atradius will always contact you by name.
Be alert to any warnings posted on Atradius’ website. Think before you click, and pay close attention to login screens. Cyber criminals can use links in emails posts, online advertisements and tweets to direct you to a fake site, where they can steal your login credentials. Only sign in to your account when you are certain you visited the real site directly. To help you be sure that you are connected to the Atradius secure environment; check the following:
- is the address for the Atradius website spelled correctly? Criminals often build websites under a slightly different name, like atardius.com instead of atradius.com
- (for the secure portion of the Atradius website) does the address start with https:// ? The 's' stands for 'secure'; ensuring impersonation and scrambling is prevented, and data is encrypted. If you only see 'http' (without the 's') then the internet connection is not secure
- (for the secure portion of the Atradius website) check that the security lock icon is visible on your screen. You should see this lock icon on every page from the moment you log in to when you log out
Ensure your device’s software is up to date, has security software installed and operating. In particular:
- make sure your device is well protected. Use up-to-date antivirus and anti-malware software together with a firewall. Make sure they’re automatically activated any time you switch on your device
- check for updates for your operating system and software (apps, virus scanner, internet browser and browser plug-ins) on a regular basis and install them when they become available
- do not install any software (apps, virus scanner, internet browser or browser plug-ins) that comes from an unknown source
- make sure your wireless connection is secure
check your plug-ins are up to date and only sourced from sites you. Examples are Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, Java)
What should I do when I suspect a phishing or vishing scam?
Most importantly, never reply to suspicious contact with your personal or financial information.
Don’t fill out forms or sign-in screens that link from these messages.
Do contact Atradius using your usual contact person to report the phishing attempt. Be careful not to use any suggestions included in the suspicious email to contact Atradius; so don’t respond to it, and don’t click any links in the email. Also be careful when contacting us by phone after a suspected vishing attempt – wait several minutes before dialing Atradius as the fraudster might have kept the line open.