With the rise of wider forms of communication, through social media and so on, comes a new wave of threats called social engineering. There are many forms of social engineering, let's have a look at what you're up against, and how to combat it.
MANIPULATION AND COERCION
You may think you're not the sort of person to be fooled by a scam, but often the scammers have employed subtle ways and means to entrap you.Social engineering is the modern way of manipulating people to give up their personal and confidential information. It comes in many guises and under different sub-headings,such as Phishing, but it's basically all a form of social engineering. Essentially, the scammer will employ your human nature and responses and turn it against you for their own gain. The kind of information the scammer is after does vary, depending on the type of scam being used, but for the most part they're usually after your passwords, bank and credit card details, or login information in order to gain any sort of financial data.
DON'T BECOME A VICTIM
You may think you're not the sort of person to be fooled by a scam, but often the scammers have employed subtle ways and means to entrap you.Social engineering is the modern way of manipulating people to give up their personal and confidential information. It comes in many guises and under different sub-headings, such as Phishing and the like, but it's basically all a form of social engineering. Essentially, the scammer will employ your human nature and responses and turn it against you for their own gain.The kind of information the scammer is after does vary, depending on the type of scam being used, but for the most part they're usually after your passwords, bank and credit card details, or login information in order to gain any sort of financial data.
1 Slow Down: Many scammers want you to, react quickly, as a matter of urgency. Take a moment to figure out what's going on, and don't fall for any high-pressure tactics. Ask for half-anhour to call a friend for advice.
2 Never give out any password information: A bank will never ask you for your password, they'll never call you up, or send a text message requesting to enter your password, nor will they ask you for other personal information relating to your account. Treat all requests as suspect and don't give out any ofyour passwords.
3 Don't engage: While it's fun to taunt a scam mer on the other end of the telephone,telling them that the only computer you own is a Commodore 64, it's really not worth it. They know they're scamming, you know they're scamming, so just put the phone down and ignore them.
4 Research everything: Locate your bank or credit card company's webpage and follow any links to known social engineering scams. Read all the information you can gather about the techniques and tricks used and arm yourself with that knowledge prior to any contact from a scammer. The more you know, the less likely you'll be hoodwinked.
5 Beware of attachments: Email attachments are an excellent way of distributing malware, viruses,and hacking scripts to your computer.If you receive an email claiming to be offering you a deal of a lifetime and requesting you simply open the attached file, then it's almost certainly avirus. Research the sender and the best advice is to delete the email.
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