Hacking Humans: How Cybercriminals Trick Their Victims
Intel Security has compiled a list of the top ways cybercriminals play with the minds of their targeted victims. And the chief way that the cybercriminals do this is via phishing scams—that are designed to take your money.
The fact that two-thirds of all the emails out there on this planet are phishy tells me that there’s a heck of a lot of people out there who are easily duped into giving over their money. I’m riled because many of these emails (we all get them) scream “SCAM!” because their subject lines are so ridiculous, not to mention the story of some befallen prince that’s in the message
I bet there’s a dozen phishing emails sitting in your junk folder right now. Unfortunately, a lot of these scam emails find their way into your inbox as well.
McAfee Labs™ has declared that there’s over 30 million URLS that may be of a malicious nature. Malicious websites are often associated with scammy emails—the email message lures you into clicking on a link to the phony website.
Clicking on the link may download a virus, or, it may take you to a phony website that’s made to look legitimate. And then on this phony site, you input sensitive information like your credit card number and password because you think the site really IS your bank’s site, or some other service that you have an account with.
6 ways hackers get inside your head:
- Threatening you to comply…or else. The “else” often being deactivation of their account (which the scammer has no idea you have, but he sent out so many emails with this threat that he knows that the law of numbers means he’ll snare some of you in his trap).
- Getting you to agree to do something because the hacker knows that in general, most people want to live up to their word. That “something,” of course, is some kind of computer task that will compromise security—totally unknown to you, of course.
- Pretending to be someone in authority. This could be the company CEO, the IRS or the manager of your bank.
- Providing you with something so that you feel obligated to return the favor.
- “If everyone else does it, it’s okay.” Hackers apply this concept by making a phishing email appear that it’s gone out to other people in the your circle of friends or acquaintances.
- Playing on your emotions to get you to like the crook. A skilled fraudster will use wit and charm, information from your social profiles, or even a phony picture he took off of a photo gallery of professional models to win your trust.
In order to preventing human hacking via phishing scams, you need to be aware of them. Aware of the scams, ruses, motivations and then simply hit delete. Whenever in doubt, pick up the phone and call the sender to confirm the email is legit.
Robert Siciliano is an Online Safety Expert to Intel Security. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! Disclosures.
