May 2025
Financial Planning

The Season of Cyber Awareness: Checking Emails with the SLAM Method

By Aaron Love

Don’t Get Hooked: Use the SLAM Method to Spot a Phishing Email

In today’s digital world, email is one of the most common tools cybercriminals use to trick people into revealing sensitive information, clicking malicious links, or downloading harmful attachments. These phishing emails are often designed to look legitimate -- sometimes almost identical to real communications from trusted brands or coworkers.

That’s why it’s important to pause and apply the SLAM method. This simple four-step checklist can help you quickly assess whether an email is safe or suspicious.

S — Sender:

Look carefully at the sender’s email address—not just the display name. Is it someone you know or work with? Does the domain (the part after the @ symbol) match the official organization’s domain? Cybercriminals often spoof addresses to look familiar or subtly alter domains (e.g., support@micr0soft.com instead of support@microsoft.com). If something feels off, it probably is.

L — Links:

Hover your mouse over any hyperlinks before clicking -- especially those urging you to log in or verify personal information. Does the link actually direct you to the website it claims to represent? Look for misspellings, extra characters, or suspicious domains. For example, paypal.verify-account.com is not the same as paypal.com.

A — Attachments:

Unexpected attachments are a major red flag. If you receive a file -- especially one in .zip, .exe, .docm, or .xlsm format -- ask yourself: Was I expecting this? Does it make sense based on the sender or the context? Attachments can carry malware designed to steal your data or damage your system.

M — Message:

Read the content of the message with a critical eye. Is it overly urgent, threatening, or filled with spelling and grammar mistakes? Phishing emails often pressure you to act fast (“Your account will be deactivated in 24 hours!”) or use emotional triggers to bypass your judgment. If the tone feels wrong or the request is strange, don’t respond—verify independently first.

Final Tip: When in doubt, don’t click. SLAM every email before you trust it!

MARKET UPDATE
401(K) ALLOCATION

To download the May 2025 Newsletter: CLICK HERE

Copperwynd Financial, LLC is a registered investment adviser. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Copperwynd Financial, LLC and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital. No advice may be rendered by Copperwynd Financial, LLC unless a client service agreement is in place.

Copperwynd Financial, LLC provides links for your convenience to websites produced by other providers of industry related material. Accessing websites through links directs you away from our website. Users who gain access to third party websites may be subject to the copyright and other restrictions on use imposed by those providers and assume responsibility and risk from use of those websites.

This commentary reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints and analyses of the Copperwynd Financial, LLC employees providing such comments and should not be regarded as a description of advisory services provided by Copperwynd Financial, LLC or performance returns of any Copperwynd Financial, LLC client. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

The S&P 500 Index or the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of the 500 largest U.S. publicly traded companies. The S&P 500 is a float-weighted index, meaning company market capitalizations are adjusted by the number of shares available for public trading. Note: Investors cannot invest directly in an index. These unmanaged indices do not reflect management fees and transaction costs that are associated with most investments.