Phishing is always looking for you to click on a fraudulent link that is masked in a message that promises a free trip, a check for the purchase or even a job. But it doesn’t stop here, because although it seems incredible, phishing can also be found in the events that reach Google Calendar in the form of spam. However, this can finish with a simple adjustment that the company has ended up implementing recently.
Due to the influx of spam that can exist in Google Calendar, Google has added a new blocking method available to all customers. Here are included both the G Suite Basics and Business versions. All this to be able to know if the event to be added comes from a sender that you know or not.
Steps to follow to block invitations from unknown people
Initially, Google enabled the possibility of adding to the calendar only those events that you have accepted through email. But this seems not to have been enough, adding now a new layer of security between Google Calendar preferences that we recommend you activate in order to be completely safe and avoid spam automatically.
This function, which is being implemented little by little, it’s really easy to activate. You simply have to follow the following steps:
-
Access the Google Calendar website.
-
In the upper right corner click on the gear of options, and in the drop-down click on Setting.
-
In the options bar on the left, click Event configuration.
-
Look for the option Add invitations to my calendar and click on it.
-
Select the option Only if the sender is known.
With this configuration change you will be able to prevent attackers from making it much more difficult to carry out malicious and phishing campaigns addressed to all users of Google Calendar. And although having a strange event in your calendar can be somewhat malicious, clicking on the URL embedded in its body can end up being fatal by downloading malicious files to your computer or mobile device.
And it is that this same configuration change will automatically apply to all devices where you have that same account activated. In other words, spam will not be received through the Android or iOS applications, being a little safer.