Phishing, vishing, smishing – words that sound like they’re straight out of a whimsical Dr. Seuss book, but that can have a very detrimental impact on your personal life if you encounter them.
You’re likely already familiar with phishing, which are attempts by hackers to gain access to your personal information via fraudulent emails. However, email solicitation is just the tip of the iceberg.
Vishing
Last year, we told you about social engineering, a low-tech form of “hacking” which exploits human psychology. Vishing, short for “voice phishing,” is just one of the ways social engineers do this. Typically, vishers will call you from a spoofed number and pose as someone important, like an official from your bank, or technical support from Microsoft or Apple. From there, it’s a race to see how much personal info they can get out of you, like account details, passwords, and more. Watch this expert social engineer gather a journalist’s personal data in minutes:
Smishing
Smishing works the same way as phishing and vishing, only over SMS text messages. Companies love to reach out to customers through automated texts, which means hackers love them, too! You may receive a text purporting to be from your internet provider with a link to an announcement soliciting more information. Like phishing emails, links in smishing attempts can be malicious and another way to access your personal data.
Avoid vishing/smishing attacks
- Don’t respond to calls or texts in which you don’t recognize the phone number.
- If you receive any communication from an organization and you suspect it to be fraudulent, look up the organization’s customer service number and contact them to verify.
- Usually, smishing texts will come from a 5000 number in lieu of an actual phone number. This indicates it was sent from an email and not another phone number.
- Never give out personal details over the phone to unverified contacts.
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, an annual collaborative effort between government and industry to ensure we have the resources you need to maintain your security online. Throughout October, we’ll be sending you tips on protecting your information and avoiding malicious attempts to extract your personal data. View this month's tips.