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Phishing and social engineering
The most common fraud attempts occur through two methods: Phishing and Social Engineering.
Click the tabs below to learn more about phishing attacks, social engineering and its risks from Michael Levin, a former Secret Service Agent and Cybersecurity Expert.
Phishing
Phishing is the number-one threat to consumers and businesses alike, according to the annual Verizon Data Breach Investigations report. Through phishing, a hacker will send emails pretending to be from reputable companies to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. Phishing is often designed to prey on your sense of fear, urgency, reward, or curiosity to lure you into performing an action such as clicking on a hyperlink or opening an attachment. This usually results in the hyperlink or attachment downloading malware that gives the sender access to your computer or network.
What is Phishing?
Social Engineering
Social Engineering is the use of deception to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential or personal information that may be used for fraudulent purposes. This can happen when an email account is compromised, and requests are submitted to contacts in the email account’s address book to complete some action. Typically, the fraudulent message asks for help, hoping to take advantage of the receivers’ good nature. This approach is intended to manipulate the email victim into providing information or performing some action that will give the perpetrator access to the system.
What is Social Engineering?
