The latest trend in phishing is pictures!
It might be a thumb nail of a picture – a cute pet, interesting garden scene, or some other curiosity.
It might be in the form of advertisement. Maybe it is offering a time sensitive, and urgent deal.
It might even be a copy of a genuine advertisement or article.
What these all have in common is that they will lure you to click on them, and when you do, your screen will open up a very compelling site, something that looks genuine.
However, the site will be a fake. It might contain malware, or worse, it might be a fake shop designed to get in front of you to give away your credit card details.
If that seems like a lot of effort on the part of the hacker, remember that cyber crime is big business, with vast sums at play for the hackers. Setting up a fake e-shop is something they can do at scale, and fairly cheaply. Then all they need to do is get it front you by any means – buying space in an advertisement slot, or sponsoring a social media post. They only need a few people to click though and fall victim before they are making a profit.
As always, there are things you can do to reduce your cyber fraud risk.
- Look out for deals that are too good to be true, or very urgent – one common one is ‘going out of business” or “we are shutting down our online shop today.”
- Look for the weblink – does it make sense?
- Check the brands look legitimate (although if they copy these, that can be very hard)
Tools like KARE Foundation will help when you are using a work PC because it checks URLs, but your home PC and your family are still very vulnerable.
- Make sure your passwords are complex, and you have MFA on everything.
- Set aside one credit card for all your online purchases and ensure it has a low balance and limit.
- Keep your home PCs updated with their patching and the best antivirus or EDR you can afford.
If you are not sure, talk to us!