Amid the stories of our shrinking economy and the government stimulus to push-start us back into recovery, there is growing concern that job losses are directly feeding growth in cybercriminal activity.
Yesterday, a well-written article in the USA Today pointed to evidence that this is so. Data breaches, phishing spam messages and attacks, website vulnerabilities, etc are mentioned as on the rise. The data shared is worrisome. However, I encourage you to remember the basics here. Your internet security job, the things you need to do to stay safe, haven’t changed. The methods employed by the cybercriminals aren’t new. Oh, they may be invoking Barack Obama’s adept use of social networking to spoof legitimate communications and websites. They may prey upon your own job loss to try to get you to sign up for a “work from home” scheme and share private information. It’s emotional, possibly even scarring to fall for these ploys. Still, please take a breath, a moment when you read these stories and remember, we’ve seen all of this before.
The social engineering employed against us will always seek to find our weak spot. Shocking images of natural disasters may cause you to open your wallet to make a donation. Make sure the website you visit to donate is an official one and always keep your internet security software on during your web activities. Monitoring your shrinking bank account every day now? Ok, but don’t click a link in an email and make sure you log out when your session is done.
Bottom line? Make sure you are using legitimate, non-pirated security software with a current subscription. Keep your operating system and software, including your browser, updated and patched. Don’t click links or respond to unexpected messages no matter how they come to you: on websites, in pop-up messages, supposed “alerts”, Instant Messages, emails, in your social networks, and so on. Make sure your family members follow these same basic principles as well. Monitor credit cards and bank activities and regularly review your free credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com.