Clue huntUnit 1 · Topic 1.1
Inspect the email: find the five red flags
Tap every red flag in a phishing email, then check your answers.
New to this? Read the topic first: 1.1 Understanding Social Engineering.
Simulation · [1.1.A.1, 1.1.A.2, 1.1.B.2, 1.1.C.2, 1.1.C.3]
Inspect the email: find the five red flags
This lands in your own student inbox on a Monday morning. Before anyone clicks, tap every part that is a red flag. Tap each part you think is a red flag. There are 5.
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Red flag. Look-alike sender: your school's real domain is northfield-hs.example (look at your own address). school-scholarships.net is a different domain made to look official.
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Fine. Your own address. Nothing suspicious here.
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Red flag. Urgency: "expires at 5 PM today" pushes you to act before you check whether it is safe.
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Fine. Real award emails say this too, which is why adversaries copy it. Judge what the message asks you to do.
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Red flag. Intimidation: losing the award and being marked ineligible uses fear of a negative consequence.
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Red flag. Malicious link: the button hides a fake address that captures your login credentials.
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Red flag. Elicitation: asking for the password and one-time code lets the adversary log in as you.
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Fine. A normal sign-off. Anyone can type it.
Go to the topic: 1.1 Understanding Social Engineering