People often say that there are two things certain in life: death and taxes. However, that sounds a bit bleak, considering that summer has arrived. Perhaps we should paraphrase it to: “There are two things certain in this life: phishing and taxes.” We’ve just published two new cybersecurity videos about phishing and passwords that might help you out this summer.
There is an excellent reason to be on alert! Unsurprisingly, scammers don’t take vacations, and still, we’ve never read news stories of hackers with burnout?! Summer is the perfect season to confound people, professionals, and laypersons alike with various phishing techniques.
But as we at AwareGO say: If you know they’re coming, you can stay alert and aware. In our latest releases, we introduce two new cybersecurity videos. One of them is about spear phishing, and the other about password sharing. Both are important to stay cyber-secure during the summer and the year-round.
New Cybersecurity Video: Spear Phishing
Our latest video about Spear Phishing addresses the critical ingredient of a successful phishing attack: knowing something about the target. Spear phishing is when a cybercriminal has a specific target and tailors their phishing attempt to a person’s interests or hobbies. The more targeted the phishing attack is, the more likely it is to be successful. This is why it is so important to be careful when sharing information about oneself on social media. Any information about you can give cybercriminals the crucial information they need to tailor a phishing attack against you.
New Cybersecurity Video: Password Sharing
Some things are just meant to be private. Passwords are one of those things that should not be shared with anyone, not even your accountant. This episode addresses the security risk of sharing your password with others by drawing the analogy of sharing one’s toothbrush. Would you share your toothbrush with a friend or a friendly stranger?
This cybersecurity video sure has the shock factor – if your employees don’t think twice about sharing their passwords after seeing this, they probably also share their toothbrushes! Don’t believe us… take a look:
Steering clear of phishing
Cybersecurity videos about phishing are all well and good, but we always complement them with more information. Here are some red flags that might help you determine whether an email is legit or phishing:
- Check the URL in the email of the sender. Does it match the official domain of the organization it claims to be? yourstreamingservice@yourstreamingservice.com may sound like a legit email, but how about yourstreamingservice@gmail.com?
- Phishing emails often rely on a sense of urgency. This makes people act without thinking, clicking a link, or transferring money. No legitimate service or institution would ask you to react to an email within 24 hours. They give out plenty of warnings if something is amiss.
- Phishing is often linked to identity theft and may require you to upload IDs, such as passports, ID cards, or your credit card number. Alternatively, they might ask you to log in to fix something in your account. Links in such emails will send you to a spoofed website that looks similar to the real one and then steal your login credentials which they can reuse or abuse.
- If unsure whether an email is legit, go to your account by typing the URL into your browser instead of following the link. You can also contact the organization in question via the contact information provided on their official website. Do not trust the information given in the email!
For more information about the various types of phishing and how to avoid them download our School of Phish pamphlet.
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