The Twilio and Cloudfare smishing attacks [view related post] provide a timely reminder of how sophisticated smishing attacks are and how they can affect businesses and their customers. But threat actors don’t just attack businesses– they also attack individual users, hoping to trick them into giving the threat actors credentials for access into personal
Privacy Tips
Privacy Tip #339 – Scammers Take Advantage of Disaster Victims
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity, Privacy Tips
Seeing the victims in Kentucky following the devastating floods is heartbreaking. Even more distressing is seeing those who are trying to help by donating funds to the relief effort victimized as well.
Scammers know that people with good hearts who are trying to help others are susceptible to relief scams. All they are trying to…
Privacy Tip #338 – Be Aware of Apps Infected with Malware
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
Like all technology, mobile apps can be infected with malicious code, or malware, which is intended to gain access to your mobile phone when you download the app. Although app stores try their best to not allow malicious apps to get into the store, monitor apps once they are included in the store, and delete…
Privacy Tip #337 – FBI Issues Warning About Cryptocurrency Apps
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
On July 18, 2022, the FBI issued an Alert advising consumers that fraudulent cryptocurrency apps have caused more than 244 victims to lose nearly $43 million.
The fraudulent apps that cyber criminals used to steal funds from consumers were presented as banking institutions asking investors to deposit funds, and then not allowing them to withdraw…
Privacy Tip #336 – Facebook Accounts Stolen Through Phishing Schemes Using Messenger Chatbots
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
Trustwave has reported a new scheme in which threat actors are using the popular Facebook Messenger platform to steal Facebook login credentials.
According to the report, the threat actors are using a phishing email to Facebook users that employs Meta’s Messenger chatbot feature. The message states that the user’s page will be terminated because the…
Privacy Tip #335- Health Care Sector Continues to Be Hit with Ransomware
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
According to the 2022 State of Ransomware Report issued recently by Sophos, it surveyed 5,600 IT professionals from 31 countries, including professionals in the health care sector. Those professionals in the health care sector shared that 66 percent of them had experienced a ransomware attack in 2021, which was an increase of 69 percent over…
Privacy Tip #334 – Crypto Scams Continue to Top the List of Scams Reported to the FTC
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips, Virtual Currency
It is tempting to get into the world of cryptocurrency investments. News items of early investors banking millions of dollars fuel the temptation.
But it is an investment strategy that is fraught with fraud, so investors beware.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), from the beginning of 2021 to the present day, more than…
Privacy Tip #333 – FTC Provides Resources to LGBTQ+ Community with “Celebrate Pride, Fight Fraud”
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
The Federal Trade Commission kicked off Pride Month yesterday, acknowledging that “some of the most egregious scams and abuses target the LGBTQ+ community.” The scams that those in the LGBTQ+ community experience include those focused on using shame through dating apps and geolocation-based apps.
To combat these frauds and abuses, the FTC is providing targeted…
Privacy Tip #332 – Chatbots Used to Steal Credentials
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
I am not a huge fan of using chatbots, as I never end up getting my questions fully answered. I get the efficiency of using a chatbot for simple questions, but my questions are usually not so easily resolved, so I end up completely frustrated with the process and trying to find a human being…
Privacy Tip #331 – ACLU Settles Facial Recognition Suit with Clearview AI
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit against Clearview AI, Inc. (Clearview AI) in March 2020, alleging that it violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by capturing and using billions of individuals’ faceprints without consent. The ACLU filed suit “on behalf of groups representing survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, undocumented…