The Russian conspiracy to meddle in the 2016 presidential campaign relied on a common scam called "spearphishing." While the history-making scam may sound sophisticated, this form of digital fraud is running rampant. Anyone using email is likely to be attacked these days. Here are some tips to protect yourself.

In a spearphishing attack, a hacker sends you an email message to trick you into disclosing your username and password to a secure account. The message looks like it's from a legitimate source you trust.

You click on the link and, unbeknownst to you, you install a program that records your next 100 keystrokes. The email from a trusted source was a Trojan Horse, malicious software that sends your password and user ID to the hackers.