What action should you take if you receive a suspicious email?

When you receive a suspicious email, the most responsible action is to report it to your IT department or email provider. This response is crucial because it helps ensure that potential threats are properly assessed and mitigated. By reporting suspicious emails, you contribute to a larger effort to protect yourself and others from phishing attempts, malware, or scams.

Reporting allows professionals to investigate the email more thoroughly, possibly alerting others in your organization about a wider threat. IT departments and email providers often have the tools and expertise needed to analyze such communications and can take necessary steps to prevent similar emails from reaching others.

Choosing to click links to investigate can put your personal information and security at risk, while ignoring the email could allow threats to propagate undetected. Forwarding the email to contacts further spreads the potential threat, increasing the chances of compromising more accounts. Thus, reporting is not only a proactive measure for your safety but also a protective action for the community or organization you are part of.