SECURITY, WITHOUT THE JARGON

Learn the warning signs

Practical, complete guides to help you recognize suspicious emails and links, understand technical checks, and respond safely.

How to Tell If an Email Is Phishing

Learn the practical warning signs of a phishing email, from sender mismatches and urgent requests to suspicious links and attachments.

A beginner-friendly checklist for inspecting a suspicious link without opening it, including domains, HTTPS, shorteners, Punycode, and URL tricks.

Understand how Sender Policy Framework works, what SPF pass or fail means, and why SPF alone cannot prove an email is legitimate.

Learn what a DKIM email signature checks, what DKIM pass and fail mean, and why a valid signature does not guarantee a safe message.

Learn how DMARC uses SPF and DKIM alignment to protect visible From domains and what DMARC pass, fail, and policy results mean.

Compare SPF, DKIM, and DMARC in plain English and learn how the three email-authentication checks work together.

Learn how lookalike domains imitate trusted names with changed characters, extra words, subdomains, and international characters.

HTTPS encrypts your connection, but it does not prove a website is legitimate. Learn what the padlock does and does not tell you.

Learn how Punycode represents internationalized domain names, why xn-- appears in URLs, and how similar-looking characters can create confusion.

Immediate steps to take after clicking a phishing link, entering a password, downloading a file, or sharing banking information.

Find full internet headers in Outlook, Outlook on the web, Gmail, Apple Mail, and other email apps for technical analysis.

Learn why an email's Reply-To address can differ from From, when that is legitimate, and when the mismatch deserves scrutiny.