Phishing is essentially cyber criminals building a fake website that looks identical to a trusted company's site. You are generally taken there via receiving a bogus email (from your bank for example) instructing you to follow a link. This link will to then take you to the fake website where you are asked to enter your details. Below is an example of a bogus email:

Recently a stronger method has also been adopted. This involves the forceful re-direction of your browser even if you manually enter your banks address into the browser. The re-direction software is generally downloaded unknowingly.

Always type in your banks site address yourself or use a bookmark, avoid following links in emails and look for a padlock icon (which indicates a secure site) your browser's toolbar when visiting sites.

Further protect via enabling Email Anti-virus on your Slingshot mail box and installing NOD32 Anti-virus software.

Online criminals are using a huge collection of trickery to exploit the way you use the internet and there is something that all the protection software in the world cannot defend against - human error.

The criminals generally exploit vulnerabilities in trusted websites, then add links that bring you to a bogus site that asks you to re-enter your personal details. Unfortunately your email is not safe either. The thieves buy or steal email addresses, not to attack you with spam, but send you virus full messages that appear to come from real addresses (even your friends!).

Don’t open emails from unknown addresses, enable Email Anti-virus on your Slingshot mail box and install Virus protection and Slingshot Anti-spyware. Lastly, develop the following security habits;

• Do not accept or open suspicious error boxes from your browser
• Review your bank and credit card statements regularly
• Remember, online offers that look to good to be true usually are
• Choose strong passwords and keep them safe
• Protect your personal information