{"id":23679,"date":"2026-02-10T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T11:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/?p=23679"},"modified":"2026-02-06T11:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T10:12:29","slug":"spam-oder-phishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/2026\/02\/10\/spam-oder-phishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Spam or Phishing? How to Spot the Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_23679 social_share_privacy clearfix 1.6.4 locale-en_US sprite-en_US\"><\/div><div class=\"twoclick-js\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\njQuery(document).ready(function($){if($('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_23679')){$('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_23679').socialSharePrivacy({\"txt_help\":\"Wenn Sie diese Felder durch einen Klick aktivieren, werden Informationen an Facebook, Twitter, Flattr, Xing, t3n, LinkedIn, Pinterest oder Google eventuell ins Ausland \\u00fcbertragen und unter Umst\\u00e4nden auch dort gespeichert. N\\u00e4heres erfahren Sie durch einen Klick auf das <em>i<\\\/em>.\",\"settings_perma\":\"Dauerhaft aktivieren und Daten\\u00fcber-tragung zustimmen:\",\"info_link\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.heise.de\\\/ct\\\/artikel\\\/2-Klicks-fuer-mehr-Datenschutz-1333879.html\",\"uri\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\\\/itc\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/10\\\/spam-oder-phishing\\\/\",\"post_id\":23679,\"post_title_referrer_track\":\"Spam+or+Phishing%3F+How+to+Spot+the+Difference\",\"display_infobox\":\"on\"});}});\n\/* ]]> *\/<\/script><\/div><p><div id=\"attachment_23366\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23366\" class=\"wp-image-23366 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/PhishingWelle_20251112_OM_Blog-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Symbolbild Phishing\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/PhishingWelle_20251112_OM_Blog-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/PhishingWelle_20251112_OM_Blog-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/PhishingWelle_20251112_OM_Blog-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/PhishingWelle_20251112_OM_Blog.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-23366\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Own illustration<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>In keeping with today&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bundesumweltministerium.de\/veranstaltung\/safer-internet-day\">Safer Internet Day<\/a> on February 10, 2026, this article is all about digital security. Spam and phishing emails show how important it is to remain vigilant in everyday life and to critically question suspicious emails. With a little caution and the right knowledge, you can better protect yourself \u2014 and the IT infrastructure of RWTH Aachen University.<\/p>\n<p>Every day, we receive emails that are not always legitimate or welcome. Two types of unwanted communication are particularly common: spam and phishing.\u00a0Both can be annoying, but phishing in poses a serious threat to your data.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, you will learn how spam and phishing differ and how you can reliably identify suspicious emails.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\"><strong>What is spam? \u2013 Annoying, but often harmless<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Spam consists of unwanted messages that are sent out en masse and automatically. These are often crude advertisements or dubious offers. Most spam emails are more annoying than dangerous. Modern spam filters usually sort them out automatically. We also filter spam emails, but they are not deleted immediately; instead, they are marked with the subject line \u201cSPAM.\u201d Since such filters can sometimes make mistakes, you will still receive these emails in your inbox. However, you can filter them out yourself with an <a href=\"https:\/\/help.itc.rwth-aachen.de\/en\/service\/1jefzdccuvuch\/article\/5544f6eca6b04f7999e25407a8e72a02\/\">inbox rule<\/a> if you wish.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Typical characteristics of spam<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sent in bulk to many random recipients<\/li>\n<li>Contains advertising or enticing offers<\/li>\n<li>Appears impersonal, often with many errors<\/li>\n<li>Has no connection to you or RWTH<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cGreat offer! Today only! Click here now!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Spam only becomes risky if links or attachments contain malware. If you don&#8217;t click on them, spam is usually harmless.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\"><strong>What is phishing? \u2013 Deception with dangerous intent<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Phishing is deception with dangerous intent. Fraudsters attempt to obtain confidential data such as passwords, bank details, or login information for your RWTH account.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike spam, phishing is not just annoying, it is a real danger. Phishing emails often look deceptively genuine. They pretend to be messages from trustworthy sources, such as parcel delivery companies, banks, or even RWTH.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Typical characteristics of phishing emails<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Urging you to act quickly<br \/>\nMessages create pressure, for example with phrases such as \u201cYour account will be blocked!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Professional-looking but fake sender addresses<br \/>\nA trustworthy display name such as \u201cIT Administration\u201d or \u201cRWTH Support\u201d is often used, while the actual email address does not match (e.g., mirAdmin@fake-outlook.com). It is therefore always worth taking a close look at the sender address.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Links to fake login pages<br \/>\nThe linked websites look deceptively similar to real portals, but are used to steal access data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Attachments that may contain malware<br \/>\nMalware or malicious programs can be executed when opened.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Partially personalized<br \/>\nThis could be done by addressing you by name or referring to your institution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cYour RWTH account has been deactivated for security reasons. Please log in again via the following link.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The goal is clear: to steal your data.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\"><strong>How to protect yourself from spam and phishing<\/strong><\/span><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><strong> Be careful with links and attachments<br \/>\n<\/strong>Only open them if you can clearly identify the message.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong> Check the sender&#8217;s address<br \/>\n<\/strong>Phishing senders often look almost correct \u2014 it&#8217;s worth taking a closer look.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong> Use official websites<br \/>\n<\/strong>Always log in to RWTH services directly via known URLs, not via links in emails.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong> Keep your spam filter active<br \/>\n<\/strong>The RWTH mail service automatically filters out many spam emails.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong> Report suspicious messages<br \/>\n<\/strong>If something seems strange, inform the IT Center. This way, other students and employees can also be warned in time.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Spam is usually just annoying. Phishing, on the other hand, is a serious threat &#8211; both to your personal data and to the IT security of RWTH.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\"><strong>Your contribution to greater IT security<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Please report any suspicious cases to the IT Center: Forward the email in question as an <a href=\"https:\/\/help.itc.rwth-aachen.de\/en\/service\/1jefzdccuvuch\/article\/a74c9f7e41eb4aae8af2a1fc682a9d53\/\">attachment<\/a> to both the <a href=\"mailto:IT-ServiceDesk\">IT-ServiceDesk<\/a> and <a href=\"mailto:spam@access.ironport.com\">spam@access.ironport.com<\/a>. By doing so, you will not only be protecting yourself, but also the IT infrastructure of RWTH Aachen University, and helping to improve our <a href=\"https:\/\/help.itc.rwth-aachen.de\/en\/service\/1jefzdccuvuch\/article\/dd352eb8a5234d06815a30eca1497b2a\/\">spam filters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Would you like to learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en?s=SPAM\">spam<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en?s=phishing\">phishing<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/category\/themen\/it-sicherheit\/\">IT security<\/a>? Then feel free to check out our blog posts and our <a href=\"https:\/\/help.itc.rwth-aachen.de\/en\/service\/1jefzdccuvuch\/article\/44343c9765a44f1cad23f0c4cd75f856\/\">documentation portal IT Center Help<\/a>. There you will find detailed information on how to identify such emails and how to deal with them correctly.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Responsible for the content of this article is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itc.rwth-aachen.de\/cms\/it-center\/it-center\/profil\/team\/~epvp\/mitarbeiter-campus-\/?gguid=PER-FDUP7HQ&amp;allou=1&amp;lidx=1\">Nicole Kaminski<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1859,"featured_media":23366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"c2c_always_allow_admin_comments":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[314],"tags":[609,61,70,49],"class_list":["post-23679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-it-sicherheit","tag-cyber-security","tag-it-sicherheit","tag-phishing","tag-spam"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1859"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23679"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23684,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23679\/revisions\/23684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}