Questa è una versione PDF del contenuto. Per la versione completa e aggiornata, visita:
https://blog.tuttosemplice.com/en/pec-and-email-security-how-to-block-spam-and-scams/
Verrai reindirizzato automaticamente...
Email is now the lifeblood of our daily activities, both personal and professional. In a country like Italy, where bureaucracy is deeply intertwined with digital life, email is not just a communication tool but a true digital domicile. Every day, millions of messages cross servers, carrying invoices, contracts, personal communications, and legal documents. However, this enormous volume of data inevitably attracts the attention of increasingly sophisticated cybercriminals.
The Mediterranean culture, founded on trust and interpersonal relationships, now clashes with the coldness of malicious algorithms designed to deceive. It’s no longer just about filtering annoying ads, but about protecting one’s identity and assets. The line between a legitimate email and a scam attempt has become thin, requiring a trained eye and ever-increasing technological awareness.
In this scenario, Certified Electronic Mail (PEC) plays a crucial role. A unique Italian feature in the European landscape, PEC has replaced registered mail with return receipt, bringing with it legal value and, theoretically, greater security. Yet, even this digital fortress is not immune to attacks. Understanding how to defend oneself is not just a technical necessity, but a civic duty to navigate the digital single market safely.
Italy is constantly in the crosshairs of cybercriminals. According to recent cybersecurity reports, our country is often among the most affected in Europe regarding email attacks and ransomware. This phenomenon is partly due to the rapid digitalization of SMEs, which has often not been accompanied by adequate training in cybersecurity and privacy protection. Criminals exploit our transition to digital to infiltrate the cracks in business processes.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has imposed high standards, but technology moves faster than legislation. Phishing emails today are written in perfect Italian, often replicating the graphic style of well-known institutions like the Revenue Agency, the Post Office, or major banks. The goal is clear: to create a sense of urgency that pushes the user to click without thinking.
The real vulnerability lies not in the software, but in the human element: curiosity and fear are the keys that open the doors to scammers.
In the European context, Italy stands out for its massive use of PEC. Although this tool offers guarantees about the sender’s identity and the message’s integrity, it does not guarantee that the content is free of threats. An infected attachment sent via PEC has the same destructive potential as one sent through a standard mailbox, with the aggravating factor that users tend to blindly trust the ‘green border’ of certification.
Traditional spam, the kind that offered miracle products or unlikely inheritances, is now easy to spot. The real challenge today is spear-phishing, which involves targeted and personalized attacks. These messages use information gathered from social networks or the web to build a credible narrative. You might receive an email referencing a real supplier or an event you attended.
A classic red flag is the inconsistency between the displayed sender’s name and the actual email address. Often, hovering the cursor over the sender reveals a domain that has nothing to do with the supposed company. Furthermore, the use of peremptory tones or veiled threats (‘Your account will be closed in 24 hours’) is a psychological tactic to bypass rational thought.
Artificial intelligence is also changing the game. Criminals use advanced tools to generate persuasive, error-free text, making it difficult to identify based on form. To learn more about how AI impacts our security, it’s helpful to understand the dynamics between artificial intelligence and privacy.
Many users mistakenly believe that PEC is inherently safe from viruses and spam. The reality is different: PEC certifies the transmission, not the quality of the content. PEC providers’ anti-spam filters are generally very aggressive, but no barrier is infallible. Receiving an electronic invoice via PEC that actually hides malware is an unfortunately common scenario.
To best manage this tool, it is crucial not to use your PEC address for newsletter subscriptions, non-essential online services, or social networks. The PEC should remain a clean channel, dedicated exclusively to official communications. The less your address is publicly disseminated, the smaller the attack surface.
Proper configuration of email clients is essential. Many professionals manage PEC alongside regular mail in software like Outlook or Thunderbird. For a detailed guide on how to optimize these tools, we recommend reading the in-depth article on PEC, Outlook, and email management.
In the Mediterranean context, helpfulness and courtesy are important social values. Scammers know this and exploit these traits through social engineering. A common technique is the ‘CEO Fraud,’ where an employee receives an urgent email apparently from their boss requesting an immediate bank transfer. The leverage used is hierarchical trust and the desire to be efficient.
Another approach is the ‘unpaid invoice’ scam. In an economic fabric made of small businesses struggling with cash flow, receiving a payment reminder creates immediate anxiety. The instinct is to open the attachment immediately to check for an error, and that’s when the computer gets infected.
Always verifying the authenticity of an unusual request through a second communication channel, like a phone call, is the most powerful antidote to social engineering.
The Italian tradition of ‘doing business’ based on handshakes and trust must evolve in the digital realm. Online distrust is not rudeness, but a necessary security measure. Educating your employees not to be afraid to ask for confirmation is the first step to securing the company.
In addition to awareness, adequate technical tools are needed. The first line of defense is two-factor authentication (2FA). Activating it on every email account, including PEC, makes password theft almost useless, as the attacker won’t have the second code generated by your smartphone.
It is also vital to keep operating systems and email clients updated. Software vulnerabilities are discovered daily, and security patches are the shield that protects us. Never ignore your system’s update notifications.
Finally, backups. If, despite all precautions, ransomware encrypts your data, having a recent and isolated backup copy is the only salvation to avoid paying a ransom. A solid data backup strategy is indispensable; to understand how to structure it best, consult the guide on data backup and secure cloud.
Email security and PEC protection are not one-time goals, but continuous processes that require attention and adaptation. In the Italian context, where tradition and innovation meet, the challenge is to maintain our natural openness to others without exposing ourselves to unnecessary risks.
Recognizing spam, being wary of unwarranted urgency, and using technological tools with awareness are the foundations for a peaceful digital life. Technology, like PEC, is a powerful ally for our productivity, but like any powerful tool, it requires skill and respect to be used safely.
Always check the sender’s address by expanding the email details. Verify the digital signature attached to the message: PEC providers indicate if the signature is valid and actually belongs to the owner. For communications from public entities (e.g., the Revenue Agency), compare the address with the official ones published on their websites.
Immediately disconnect the device from the internet to block any remote connections. Run a full scan with an updated antivirus program. Immediately change the password for the affected account and for all other services where you used the same credential, and enable two-factor authentication.
Yes, absolutely. The fact that a message is certified guarantees the sender’s identity and the sending date, but it does not ensure that the content is free of threats. A compromised PEC account can send infected attachments that still have the legal value of delivery, making the scam even more insidious.
The PEC addresses of companies and professionals are often listed in public directories (like INI-PEC) accessible to anyone. Spammers collect these addresses to send unsolicited advertising or mass scam attempts. It is important never to reply to spam to avoid confirming that the inbox is active.
The main signs include: a sense of urgency or threat (e.g., account blocked), grammatical or formatting errors, generic or slightly altered sender addresses compared to the original, links pointing to strange domains, and unexpected requests for personal data or bank payments.