As champions of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), we're kicking off our first week with a focus on email. Read on for facts and tips on email security from the National Cyber Security Alliance.

Across the world, 269 billion emails are sent every day. It's estimated that the average business user will receive 96 emails per day by 2019 (source: Radicati).

Given our reliance on the medium, it's no surprise that email is one of cybercriminals' favorite methods of attack. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, 85 percent of U.S. organizations have experienced a phishing attack and 30 percent of people have opened a phishing email.

There are simple steps you can take to ensure that you don't become a victim of a cyberattack. Somewhat like a poker tell, suspicious emails contain hints that the sender isn't who they claim to be.

Watch this video to learn how to spot email scams.

The Facts About Email Scams

• Suspicious emails engage in "spoofing," a type of scam in which attackers impersonate a trustworthy entity to make it more likely that the recipient will open and act on the email.
• Spoofed emails typically employ one of two tactics:
  • Phishing, the attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and, indirectly, money) for malicious reasons.
  • Spreading malware by getting the user to open malicious email attachments or click on malicious links.

Practical Tips on Spotting Suspicious Emails

• Look carefully at the email and ask yourself the following questions:

• • Do you know or recognize the "from" address or contact's name?
  • Does the message contain incorrect grammar or misspelled words?
  • Does the message ask you to take action on something you didn't request, such as "click on this link to pick the new phone you requested"?

• If the answer to the first is no, or the answer to the second or third above is yes:
  

• • Don't click on links. Instead, hover your cursor over links to determine if the address is unknown, suspicious, or misleading: for example, www.microsoft.com.maliciousdomain.it. Don't open any attachments the email contains.
  • If you suspect a work email is a phishing attack, immediately report it to your IT administrator so they can alert your fellow coworkers of the attempted attack. If it's a personal email, most email service providers provide a mechanism to report that. Check out this example from Gmail.

Additional Cybersecurity Resources

• Want to learn more about cybersecurity and how you can keep your data safe? Read our latest blog post about the Equifax breach.
• Need a little inspiration? Find out how TechSoup and Symantec are making a difference in the lives of at-risk teens.
• Get more security tips from the National Cyber Security Alliance. National Cyber Security Alliance Month — observed every October — was created as a collaborative effort between government and industry to ensure all Americans have the resources they need to stay safer and more secure online. Find out how you can get involved.

Image: National Cyber Security Alliance

spanhidden

Eco Equity is one of only a few Europe-based investors in medicinal cannabis from Africa and the Caribbean, an area in which the UK is missing an opportunity, according to CEO Jon-Paul Doran.

Sweden’s ambitious plan to drastically cut emissions from transport by bringing millions of electric cars onto the road could be derailed by a lack of power capacity for new charging stations in major cities.

Iowa economic development officials are tentatively endorsing a tax credit for battery storage to complement the state’s wind and solar generation.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has issued an order approving long-term contracts for 9,554,940 MWh annually of hydropower between H.Q. Energy Services (U.S.) Inc. and the Commonwealth’s electric distribution companies through the New England Clean Energy Connect 100% Hydro project (NECEC Hydro).

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (the NDRC) issued a Circular on Policies of Improving the Electricity Price for On-Grid Wind Power (the Circular) at the end of May 2019. According to the Circular, the price of electricity from offshore wind power projects is cut to 0.8 yuan per kWh [US $0.12 per kWh] in 2019 and will further drop to 0.75 yuan [US $0.11] per kWh in 2020.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

ENGIE Storage has announced it will supply and operate a 19 MW/38 MWh portfolio of six energy storage sites that will contribute to the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target Program and participate in ISO-New England wholesale markets.

While solar roads have been criticized as impractical and inefficient, a Georgia foundation says they will continue to be part of its research lab for greener highways.

Two large-scale solar farms are set to make Warrington Borough Council the first local authority in the UK to produce all its own electricity from clean energy.

Today SunPower is launching its next generation solar panel called A-series, which boasts 400 or 415 watts, in the United States. A new 400-watt product, Maxeon 3, is available in Europe and Australia.

RenewableUK highlighted last week that Great Britain’s onshore and offshore wind farms generated more electricity than any other source of power last week.

In a first for the country, Germany generated 54.5 percent of electricity from renewable energy in March 2019. This is according to data collected by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.

Today, Alabama Municipal Electric Authority (AMEA) and Lightsource BP announced the development of a 100-MW (AC) solar energy project in Montgomery County, Alabama. Lightsource BP will finance, develop, build, own, and operate the solar facility and will deliver energy to AMEA under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA). The project, situated 15 miles from AMEA’s headquarters in Montgomery, will supply clean energy to AMEA’s 11 Member utilities located across the state and will generate enough electricity to power more than 20,000 homes.

Brazil is the second-largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world, after only China, and hydropower accounted for more than 70% of the country’s electricity generation in 2018. Brazil’s latest 10-year energy plan seeks to maintain this level of hydro generation while increasing the share of nonhydro renewables, particularly solar.

The nation’s largest electric grid operator is grappling with how to prevent state climate policies from merely pushing emissions — and costs — across state lines.

Iowa economic development officials are tentatively endorsing a tax credit for battery storage to complement the state’s wind and solar generation.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

Carbon Lighthouse, a San Francisco-based energy-efficiency company, raised $27 million to expand its engineering and marketing efforts. GRC SinoGreen Fund led the oversubscribed funding round and JCI Ventures, SV Tech Ventures and EBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s Ulupono Initiative also participated, according to Carbon Lighthouse Chief Executive Officer Brenden Millstein. Other investors included Ekistic Ventures, Tom Steyer’s Radicle Impact Partners, former General Motors Co. Vice Chairman Steve Girsky and Tesla Inc. Chief Technology Officer Jeffrey B Straubel.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced an acceleration of energy efficiency in New York, including a plan to achieve a new target for greenhouse gas emission reductions, decrease consumer energy costs and create job opportunities.

The nation’s energy sector employed 6.5 million Americans in 2017, up 133,000 jobs from the year prior, according to a comprehensive report released today from the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO). This two percent growth rate exceeded the national average of 1.7 percent.

A report that examines statements about rolling blackouts made by regional grid operator ISO-New England, shows that sustained growth of renewables, and not more gas, will boost reliability of New England’s electric power system.

Clean energy advocates rejoiced as legislation was passed today in New Jersey that will support the development of a massive amount of renewable energy, specifically community solar, energy storage, offshore wind and energy efficiency. The bill also props up nuclear power in the state with the establishment of zero-emission certificates.

In 2017, Massachusetts was ranked No. 1 in energy efficiency by ACEEE for the seventh consecutive year. On the other side of the country, California was ranked a close second after tying with Massachusetts for the top spot in 2016.

IEA report reveals that more than US $750 billion went to the electricity sector while US $715 billion was spent on oil and gas supply globally as the world continues on the path to electrification.

According to energy expert, Amory Lovins, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, the energy industry has vastly misunderstood the scope of the energy efficiency resource. Lovins claims that it’s design, not technology that can achieve incredibly energy efficiency gains. Using his own home in the Colorado Rocky Mountains as an example, Lovins shows how simple changes in design have allowed him to grow banana crops using only natural sunlight and reduce the amount of energy he uses significantly.

Egypt has the potential to meet up to 53 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, according to a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The Egypt Renewable Energy Outlook, released in Cairo last week in the presence of Egyptian government officials and regional decision makers, found that pursuing higher shares of renewable energy could reduce the country’s energy bill by up to $900 million annually in 2030.

Integrated energy company E.ON and BNP Paribas Personal Finance are piloting a new energy efficiency financing scheme for UK consumers.

According to the International Energy Agency, “2018 is the year of electricity” and global electricity supply “is being transformed by the rise of renewables”.

Last week, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the New York State Public Service Commission approved two initiatives to increase New York's energy efficiency and energy storage targets.

Arizona State University researchers have set a new record for solar efficiency, 25.4 percent. Working with tandem photovoltaics, or stacking different materials in a solar cell, the ASU team has continued to improve solar efficiency and lower costs.

In early December, I put out a call to the online energy professionals community to find participants for the world’s first Fantasy Energy League. Perhaps I saw the pending end of the 2018 fantasy football season and I wanted something to fill the coming void, or maybe I was just curious to see who else wanted to approach energy projections from a gamified lens. Either way, I put out my energy-industry bat signal for the Fantasy Energy League only to see my email inbox and my Twitter feed blow up.

As scientists seek more ways to harness nature’s power to produce renewable energy, there’s one energy source burned naturally every day that isn’t being harnessed: calories.

GE announced today that it sees a future in housing its renewable generation businesses (onshore and offshore wind, hydropower) alongside its grid businesses which include substations and transformers plus solar, storage and distributed energy resource (DER) control software. GE Renewable Energy CEO Jerome Pecresse said in a press conference that the move will simplify the lives of GE’s customers by giving them one point of contact for all of their renewable energy power needs.

On January 31, 2019, Georgia Power, the largest utility in the state submitted its newest integrated resource plan (IRP) to the state utility commission for approval.

This week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that rather than investing in the Haynes, Harbor and Scattergood natural gas power plants to meet the requirements of a 2010 law related to a practice known as once through cooling, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) will phase them out in favor of renewable energy.

While solar roads have been criticized as impractical and inefficient, a Georgia foundation says they will continue to be part of its research lab for greener highways.

Trump's proposed budget severely cuts the EPA and DOE's efficiency and renewables offices, but allocates funding for R&D, clean coal and advanced nuclear.

Sweden’s ambitious plan to drastically cut emissions from transport by bringing millions of electric cars onto the road could be derailed by a lack of power capacity for new charging stations in major cities.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

ENGIE Storage has announced it will supply and operate a 19 MW/38 MWh portfolio of six energy storage sites that will contribute to the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target Program and participate in ISO-New England wholesale markets.

San Diego-based biotechnology company, Organovo Holdings (Organovo), has announced a tie up with a Melbourne research institute to help develop regenerative medicine in Australia.

New York-based artificial intelligence (AI) specialist, Dataiku, is expanding in the Asia-Pacific region with a major new office in Sydney. The company will be hiring dozens of local employees, from customer-facing staff to data scientists.

Visitor centers at large hydro projects in the U.S. nearly became an endangered species after 9/11. Fears about additional attacks on critical infrastructure led to restricting public access to many hydro projects, putting visitor centers in jeopardy.

A $2 trillion push in the U.S. to blend renewable energy into the power supply and fortify transmission lines against extreme weather means that Americans must act more like Europeans to keep their power costs down.