Most Common Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are where the scammer tries to get your confidential information by subterfuge of some kind.

e.g. you get an email saying you have won the lottery and just need to fill in your details to claim the money or you have an overdue tax payment to make immediately and you have to login to make the payment (on a fake website)  or …..

The most common categories of phishing in 2021 were :

Spear Phishing

This is where phishing is targeted at specific individuals or companies.

Perhaps an email arrives, claiming to be from a trustworthy source and the sender knows your full name, job title and department for example. The scammer has done their homework to get this information about you to give the scam a higher chance of success.

A link in the message takes you to a bogus website made to look like the expected website. The fake website looks legitimate but only exists to take the users confidential information and pass it to the scammer.

Whaling

This is where scammers target a “big fish” like a business executive or celebrity. These scammers often conduct considerable research into their targets to find an opportune moment to steal login credentials or other sensitive information. If you have a lot to lose, whaling attackers have a lot to gain.

Vishing

One scam on the rise is ‘vishing‘, or voice phishing. Con artists phone people and pretend to be bank staff or the Police or some other authority figure and have a story that lets them try to get the subject’s personal details, credit card details, bank account password etc. depending on the specific scam.

For the bank account scam, they typically warn of fraudulent activity on your account. They then persuade you to move your account to a safe place (which happens to be an account owned by the scammer) and they convince you to give them the details necessary for the transfer or convince you to move the money yourself.

Stay safe.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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What is Hacktivism ?

Hacktivism (a portmanteau of hack and activism) is the subversive use of computers and computer networks to promote a political agenda or a social change. Its ends are often related to the free speech, human rights and freedom of information movements.

Some people believe hacktivism is a growing force and will become more active and take on bigger challenges. But, others believe it is a spent force and will die away slowly over the coming years.

Mr. Robot

“Mr. Robot” is a TV series that tells the story of hacker Elliot Alderson  and his role in an anarchist collective called “fsociety,” whose followers wear masks that resemble “Rich Uncle Pennybags” from the Monopoly board game.

The series was inspired by a notorious computer hacker named H who has gone from trying to bring down the authorities — to working for them.

As a key member of the hacking group known as Anonymous and a founder of its elite “LulzSec” unit, Hector Monsegur helped launch cyber attacks on government and corporate targets including the US Senate, the FBI and major credit-card companies.

But when he was arrested in 2011, Monsegur — known online as “Sabu” — began secretly cooperating with an investigation that led to a wave of arrests across the US, Great Britain and Ireland.

Today, Anonymous still goes by the motto it unveiled in 2009: “We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

Hector Monsegur

But Monsegur, 35, says society has little to fear from the online anarchists in Guy Fawkes masks as “Anonymous is irrelevant.  “All it is now is a figment of hipsters’ imagination.”

Monsegur pleaded guilty to seven felonies as part of his deal with prosecutors and spent nearly eight months in Lower Manhattan’s infamous Metropolitan Correctional Center before being sentenced to time served in 2014.

The following year, Monsegur, landed a job working remotely as a “white-hat hacker” for Seattle-based Rhino Security Labs, helping companies identify vulnerabilities in their computer systems.

He admits that in comparison to what he used to do before, it’s not the same kind of thrill.

The article at http://www.fightbackonline.org/index.php/guidance/12-explanations/108-is-hacktivism-a-force-for-good has more information on Hacktivism.

Do leave a comment on this post – click on the post title then scroll down to leave your comment.

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The Most Common Spam Messages

Brooklands Radio gets several hundred spam and scam messages per week and below are the most common in one month:

  1. People selling drones. Scammers seem to love claiming to sell these. Most have no products – they just take your money.
  2. People selling electric scooters and electric bikes – some are genuine sellers looking for gullible clients who wont realise they can buy the same products much more cheaply elsewhere.
  3. The ‘Married Women – have an Affair’ scam which is actually targeted at men.
  4. Dating sites – also targeted at men.
  5. Website builders, SEO offerings, social media management etc. – It seems that half the population of India want to offer website based services online such as website design, SEO services, social media management etc. Probably many are genuine idiots thinking they can get rich from these schemes and likely have little idea of what they are doing. The rest are scammers who believe they can con people confused by technology.
  6. Music submissions. It makes sense for aspiring artists and publicity companies to send demos to radio stations. But like most local radio stations, Brooklands Radio is only interested in budding artists who are local – rather than on the other side of the planet as so many seem to be.
  7. Phishing emails – trying to get your private information or login/password
  8. Malware messages – an attachment of some kind that is loaded with malware if the recipient is dumb enough to open it
  9. Pathetic stories of magic answers to diabetes or massive weight loss with no effort etc. – the scammers aim is just to get you to click a link to watch a video and they are paid for each of those clicks.
  10. Shed building. For some reason there are still lots of these emails offering free plans for building sheds. Who cares?

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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