Be Wary of Emails Warning of New Login from your Device

We Noticed a New Login from a TABLET, PHONE OR PC...

Warning emails while helpful, can also be an easy way for a hacker to take over a streaming account without your knowledge.

With good social engineering skills, a hacker need not use complicated password brute force tools. Or spend hours trying to guess your password.

Why go to all this trouble when all they need to do is just send out a bunch of phony emails asking for your login ID and password. Many people not realizing the email is fake, will simply click a link in an email, type in their personal account user information and password. Thereby handing this info right over.

Streaming sites like Netflix, Amazon, and others have started clamping down on password sharing and comprimised or hacked user accounts. To combat this, companies have begun sending out official emails warning their subscribers whenever someone logs into their account from a device they may have not used in a while.

In practice, a warning email may sound like a good idea. But hackers can also easily copy and email letters using spoofed email addresses. They also often obtain a fake sound alike Netflix or Amazon domain name. Like NetflixAntiHack.com, or Amazon-Tech-Support-Agent.com, or any other domain that sound a lot like the name of the company they are trying to impersonate. They then build a copy cat Netflix or Amazon website which looks almost identical to the real site.

Unfortunately, many subscribers don't know that they are not on a real website when they enter their private user credentials.

How To Determine if an Account Provider Email is Genuine

When an email arrives, it's often hard to determine if it's from a real company or a phishing site. Phishing is dangling something out there like a lure to making an unsuspecting user or fish want to click on the link automatically without verifying it is the legitimate site.

Phishing emails typically will use an element of Fear, Surprise, Greed, or Anger to push the reader to take immediate action. Often forcing them to make irrational decisions based on emotion instead of using logic or common sense.

One good rule to remember when receiving any emails warning about an account possibly being comprimised, is to always look up the company and visit their website directly. And don't click or use any links that were sent to you in an email. Especially, when they want you to enter personal information.

While this is often easier said than done. Like when you are freaking out because someone may have logged into and stolen your account information.

But contacting their customer support directly is the best way to reach out to confirm your account is safe.

BE EXTRA CAREFUL WITH EMAIL LINKS OFFERING TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD

Emails that include links to take you to a web page to change the password for an account are the worst of all. Again, never trust a link sent to you in an email even if looks like it may have come from the legitimate company. And especially if they are asking for personal user information. Or they want you to log in and change your password

Because if you click it and it doesn't take you to the real site, now the hacker not only knows your old password, but also has the new one you plan on using. It's also quite common to use the same password and user account on other websites.

Once a hacker has your personal account info, they can go down a long list and possibly compromise several more accounts which all have the same user information instead of just one.

Here's What to Look For When Accessing A Website

1. Look for The Lock on Secure Websites. Whenever entering personal information on a website. Look for the lock symbol next to the website address in your browser.

2. Secure websites always start with https:// not http:// many http:// sites will auto redirect you to a https:// version of the same site which means that the site identity has been verified with a 3rd party certificate.

3. Always enter the URL Address in the web browser address bar itself. It's near the top of the browser window.

Never enter the full web address in Google search or another search engine. Because some fake sites game the search engine results and their fake site can appear first or higher up than genuine websites in the search results.

For domain names, look for sites that have their business name that ends with .com for example. Netflix.com, Amazon.com, Roku.com, Apple.com. It's also perfectly normal for a websites to sometimes also have subdomains in their name. Usally this would look like this: https://tvstreamin.com and https://news.tvstreamin.com both belong to the same domain and are legitimate sites. As is https://support.roku.com which is a subdomains of Roku.com.

It's also normal to see business which end in .tv, .net, .info, .org and others. But you always want to see the name of the site next to the extension before the final period.

Take an extra few moments and be cautious when receiving emails warning of impending doom. Hackers are using every dirty trick they can think of to try and get you to voluntarily give them your password and log in information.

Stay diligent. Even though most companies will never send an email asking for personal information. It's easy to become complacent and accidentally click on a link in an email that could compromise your personal account information.

Take Our 5 Question Email Phishing Quiz and See If You're an Easy Phishing Target

Q1: An email arrived from netflix.security.com instructing you that your Netflix account has been accessd from an iPad in China. Having never traveled to China you should?

a. Contact Netflix support by phone or visit their website directly and log into your account and change the password.
b. No time to waste, click the link they sent in the email and get the password changed right away on your account.
c. Click the link and cancel your Netflix account immeadiately.
d. Buy a new media streamer because if your media streamer was hacked by Chineese hackers and is no longer safe to use.

Q2: You received an email from sales.roku.com informing you that they just released a new model. As a good customer you qualify for $50 off the price. You can feel safe ordering it by

a. Clicking the link in the email, that goes to roku.salez.com and placing an order to save $50.
b. Entering the email address in the web browser address bar, and after verifying it does in fact go to the sales.roku.com website, the lock icon is there and the website address starts with https://
c. Ignore the email it even though you would love to have a new discounted Roku. Because it's probably a scam and instead order one for full price from Best Buy.
d. Act all offended that they would not give you a Free Roku and buy an Apple TV instead.

Q3: Phishing is?

a. Dangling a worm in front of a fish.
b. Relaxing on the lake with a fishing pole and a beer.
c. Dangling a big fish in front of a polar bear.
d. Sending a fear based email hoping to get the reader to click a fake link that steals personal account information.

Q4: You receive an email from Hulu that says they will terminate your account in 24 hours because your credit card has been denied. You should...

a. Click the link in the email and yell at their live chat customer support person by TYPING IN ALL CAPS!
b. Terminate your Hulu account right away by visiting dumphulu.com a site which shoud up first in Google search.
c. Contact Hulu by visiting your account info page at https://hulu.com log in and verify your credit card information.
d. Type Hulu into Google search and visit the first site in their search results. http://hulu.activate.com Then log in and verify or add your credit card information again.

Q5: You are currently reading this article on?

a. Sweetstreams
b. TVStreamersClub
c. TVStreamin
d. mkvXstream

Q6: The best place to type a web address when you want to access a website directly is?

a. Google Search
b. Browser Address Bar
c. Bing Search
d. StartPage.com a privacy Search Engine

Watch The Video To Learn More on How to Protect Against Phishing

Be Wary of Emails Warning of New Login Devices