If you receive an email, even if it is from a friend or a bank, that does not have one of the file extensions listed above after the file name and subsequent period, you should never open the attachment unless you know for certain that it is legitimate. These extensions represent different file types and are the formats that the majority of internet users tend to send as email attachments. These are GIF, JPG or JPEG, TIF or TIFF, MPG or MPEG, MP3 and WAV. Microsoft has classified several types of dangerous extensions however, only a few are considered safe. You can tell if an email attachment is safe by assessing the file extension.Ī file extension is the three letters that follow the period at the end of the file name. However, there is actually an easy way to tell if email attachments are safe that works the vast majority of the time. With all the sophisticated methods that hackers hold up their sleeve, it may seem impossible to distinguish between suspicious emails and legitimate messages. (Image credit: Shutterstock) How can you tell when email attachments are safe?

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