What’s Your Click IQ?
The recent celebrity photo hacks are an unfortunate reminder of how devastating or embarrassing it can be to have your data compromised. But celebrities are not the only ones getting hacked. Cybercriminals aren’t choosy—they’ll send malicious texts, emails, and website links to Jennifer Lawrence and your grandma. And while the celebrity hacks are more publicized, the fact is, every day, hundreds of ordinary people are falling prey to phishing scams.
So how can you protect yourself from these cybercriminals? The best defense is actually you.
Many of these scams involve a similar thing—the click. So if you learn how to click wisely, 95% of cybercrime techniques—including phishing, bad URLs, fake text messages, infected pdfs, and more—are eliminated.
And that’s the idea behind Intel Security’s new campaign, #ClickSmart. Intel Security wants to empower you with the skills and sense to avoid those dastardly scams.
Here are some tips to get you started
- Check URLs for misspellings or interesting suffixes. For example, if you see www.faceboook.ru, don’t click it.
- Only open texts and emails from people you know. But even if you do know the sender, be wary for any suspicious subject lines or links. Hackers can try to lure you through your friends and family.
- Beware of emails, texts, and search results offering anything for free. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t true.
Are you ready to take the #ClickSmart challenge? If so, go to digitalsecurity.intel.com/clicksmart and see if you’re a Click head or a Click wizard.
To learn more on how to #ClickSmart, join @IntelSecurity, @McAfeeConsumer, @cyber, @GetCyberSafe, @STOPTHNKCONNECT for Twitter chat on October 14th at 12 PM PT. Use #ChatSTC to join in on the conversation. Click here for more information.
Robert Siciliano is an Online Security Expert to McAfee. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! Disclosures.
