Phishing, Smishing, and Vishing: What You Need to Know to Protect Yourself
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Phishing, smishing, and vishing are all types of social engineering attacks that are designed to trick you into revealing sensitive information, such as your credit card number, Social Security number, or password. These attacks can be very sophisticated, and it can be difficult to tell if you're being targeted.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a type of social engineering attack that uses email to trick you into revealing sensitive information. The attacker will send you an email that looks like it's from a legitimate company, such as your bank or credit card company. The email will contain a link to a fake website that looks just like the real thing. If you click on the link and enter your login information, the attacker will be able to steal your account credentials. If you fall victim to a phishing attack, you could end up with a damaged reputation, lost money, or even a stolen identity.
What is Smishing?
Smishing is a type of social engineering attack that uses text messages to trick you into revealing sensitive information. The attacker will send you a text message that looks like it's from a legitimate company, such as your bank or credit card company. The text message will contain a link to a fake website that looks just like the real thing. If you click on the link and enter your login information, the attacker will be able to steal your account credentials.
What is Vishing?
Vishing is a type of social engineering attack that uses phone calls to trick you into revealing sensitive information. The attacker will call you and pretend to be from a legitimate company, such as your bank or credit card company. The attacker will ask you for your personal information, such as your credit card number or Social Security number. If you give them this information, the attacker will be able to steal your identity and use it to commit fraud.
20 Ways To Stop Mobile Attacks
How to Protect Yourself from Phishing, Smishing, and Vishing
There are a few things you can do to protect yourself from phishing, smishing, and vishing attacks:
- Be suspicious of any email or text message that asks for your personal information. Legitimate companies will never ask for this information over email or text message.
- Don't click on links in emails or text messages from unknown senders. Instead, go directly to the website of the company in question.
- Be careful about what information you share on social media. This information can be used by attackers to target you with phishing attacks.
- Use strong passwords and change them regularly. Do not use the same password for multiple accounts.
- Use a security software that can detect and block phishing, smishing, and vishing attacks. Install and keep your antivirus software up to date. Antivirus software can help protect your computer from malware.
- If you get a message from someone you know making a request of you contact them in another way to verify the message. For example, if they sent you an email you could call them or text them to verify the message is real. This will protect you from falling victim to an attacker who has control over their email account.
- Enable two-factor authentication for your online accounts. This will add an extra layer of security to your accounts.
By following these tips, you can help protect yourself from these dangerous attacks.
MFA provides extra security by providing a secondary method confirming your identity when logging into accounts. MFA usually requires you to enter a code sent to your phone or email, or one generated by an authenticator app.
On accounts that offer MFA:
social media and email
USE MFA EVERYWHERE!
- Open your app or account settings – It may be called Account Settings, Settings & Privacy of similar.
- Turn on multifactor authentication – It may also be called two-factor authentication, two-step authentication, or similar.
- Confirm – Select an MFA method to use from the options provided.
