How to Identify Malicious Hyperlinks Within An Email | Stewart Title Blog

In the past, we’ve talked about phishing emails that contain a hyperlink to malicious websites. Traditionally, these are identifiable through boxes, buttons or phrases within the email. When you move your cursor over them, the cursor changes to the hand and displays the content of the URL.

This week’s sample email represents an old but frequently used trick where the entire content of the email is an image. If you click anywhere on that email, you will be redirected to a malicious website. Since we tend to move through the content of an email with both a mouse and a keyboard, this trick ensures that no matter which one you use, anywhere you click within the email will land you on the attacker’s website. You can spot these emails by hovering your mouse over the entire message. If it stays as a hand, you are viewing the image of the text/message. So always remember:

Think before you click.