GONE PHISHIN'

Julie Brill is a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. Her job involves regulating corporate data security. Nevertheless, she got caught in an email phishing scam. She got an email from a business contact of hers. It contained a Google Drive attachment, which she opened and entered some of her personal data on it. But she soon realized that she was not on a legitimate Google page and took steps to limit the damage.

Considering her position, she should have known better, but far be it for me to criticize her. I have fallen into the same trap, and so have a lot of people I know. Someone had hijacked the email of Brill’s correspondent. It’s not hard for a hacker to do. If anyone can get the password to your email, they can log onto it and send messages to everyone on your address book. These messages can be spam, they can contain viruses, and they can be attempts to get you to surrender personal information, such as credit card numbers.

It pays to be suspicious of any offer you get over the internet, and just because it seems to come from someone you know, it can just as easily be from someone who hijacked your contact’s email.

Be careful about those vague messages, things like, “I thought you might be interested in this,” followed by a hyperlink. Very likely that hyperlink will lead to something that damages your computer or allows a thief to steal your personal information.

If a notice pops up on your computer saying, “Call this number immediately!” don’t do it. I know a couple of people who did respond to this message. In both cases the scam artist on the other end of the phone had somehow “discovered” a serious problem on your computer, which he would fix for a price. The telephone scammer talked one person into allowing him to get remote access to her computer, so he could “fix” the problem. He could just as easily have created a problem.

Before you click on a hyperlink, even from someone you know, take a careful, suspicious look at it.  A little paranoia on the internet is a good thing