Phishing attacks are a personal threat to every individual. We are used to hearing about cyber attacks on companies, about the damage in e-commerce affecting companies’ reputation and finances but not that often about consumers or individual phishing attacks where individuals become the most victims today.
Digital communication is comparatively a new approach to our daily routine and vision. It requires more attention to personal security in a digital environment.
So do we all know what ‘getting trapped’ is?
Trap phishing is what cybercriminals are looking for: they are looking for a human to make a mistake and create a security fault. Nowadays, we are so much engaged in tech communication: we are using e-commerce sites, we are using the website for money transactions, mobile banking, social media channels represent our whole life which becomes super transparent and visible; and we believe that login and password, or pin code we created to our digital networks is enough. But we forget how often we share our personal information like addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, and other personal data with third parties.
Today’s technology requires smart users who will sustain a safe cyber environment. It requires aware personal security online and cyber security skills. Sometimes our human factor lets us down: we can be tired or distracted and can easily mistake a spoof email for the real one, and click on that virus link or attachment. And we are trapped!
What is pretexting and why is it important to be aware of it?
Pretexting is a form of a social engineering attack where the main tool is a well-created scenario.
During this attack, cybercriminals look for small bits of personal information to get. In comparison to phishing attacks that mainly use fear and urgency, pretexting builds a false sense of trust with a user. The attacker creates a credible story and engages the victim in communication. The tools that are used to gain personal information usually look like actions that require a user to prove identity.
The techniques that pretexters usually use can be:
- Impersonation
- Scareware
- Malware
- Stalkerware
- Phishing
- Smishing
- Vishing
- Angler phishing
- Baiting
- Cloning
There are many recommendations on cyber security such as not opening any emails that come from suspicious sources, using anti-virus software and double-authentication process, updating your password regularly, and not sharing any personal information via emails, social media, or other digital channels.
But the most important recommendation is to educate yourself. Create cyber security knowledge and build cybersecurity skills.
If you want to learn how MonkPhish can help you build cyber security skills, contact Adam and request your product demo today!
