“Hello Dear sir/madam, I have received large sum of money to be transferred to your bank account.Please to email me right away with your account information. Many thanks.”

Ever get one of these emails? We're pretty good at recognizing this kind of scam, but cyber criminals are very clever to find new ways to hijack our personal data.

These kinds of attacks are called “social engineering attacks” and they include “phishing”, “spear phishing”, “pharming” and “vishing“. These attacks exploit human tendencies of wanting to be helpful to people in need, trusting those with some form of authority, or even just being curious or greedy.

By claiming to be a system administrator who needs your password to fix your account, or your credit card company needing to verify your credit card number and expiration date, or someone from far away who will give you millions of dollars as soon as you send him some money first….these are all ways to gain unauthorized access to systems or information in order to commit fraud or identity theft.

It only takes one click!

A phishing scam usually involves an e-mail that encourages a user to click on a link, which could then expose the user’s computer to malicious software. The software can then open the doors to unauthorized disclosure of information, loss of information and/or denial of network service.

We have also seen an increase in the number of ransomware attacks where the attacker, once inside the victim’s system, changes the passwords or encrypts the data from the authorized users’ files. The attacker then demands that the owner pay them to return access to the information.

Last year, the Canadian Revenue Agency was forced to delay the tax-filing deadline because its network was exposed to the Heartbleed bug, which essentially allows unauthorized people to access supposedly protected Internet traffic. A computer-science student in London, Ont., is facing several charges for exploiting the vulnerability created by the bug to access sensitive information.  (The Globe and Mail May 14, 2015.)

Don't get caught on the phish-hook! 

There are many creative ‘cyber bad guys' who love to trick you into providing your personal information. You need to educate yourself about the kind of scams out there, and take heed to prevent a cyber attack.

The fact is, good phishing email looks just like regular messages from people we know and care about, and to make matters worse, it can also be difficult to detect.

When it comes to phishing, prevention is the best defense. Investing in employee education and training now can save you a great deal of time and effort further down the line.

How Do You Avoid Being a Victim?

Tip – Be secure, be suspicious, be up-to-date.

Instructions

Click the image to download the pdf

• Learn more about phishing – The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has a Top 10 tips to protect your inbox, computer and mobile device.
• Educate yourself – and your staff and family– about cyber security awareness. Use the ‘The Realist’s Guide to Cybersecurity Awareness’ from Barkly to help you with ideas on how you can create a privacy and security awareness program.
• Print the poster 5 Ways to Help Employees be Privacy Aware.
• Use the Family Digital Chores Checklist from ESET-NCSA to remind you to conduct routine digital maintenance at home and at work.
• Be suspicious of emails from financial institutions or other organizations hat ask you to provide personal information online. Reputable firms never ask for information in this manner.
• Look closely for clues to fraudulent emails like a lack of personal greetings and spelling or grammatical mistakes.
• Verify a phone number before calling it – if someone left you a message or sent an email claiming to be from your financial institution, make sure you check that the number is the one printed on the credit card or your bank statement.

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