Social engineering: how cyber scams trick us

It can seem impossible to believe that cyber criminals can get information just by asking for it — but if it were impossible, we wouldn’t be here. Cyber threat Cyber threatA threat actor, using the internet, who takes advantage of a known vulnerability in a product for the purposes of exploiting a network and the information the network carries. actors have many scams to get people to give them what they want. Knowing about how they work can help you protect your information online.

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41% of Canadians ^Footnote1
believe it is unlikely that their personal information could be compromised online

62%
say they “take steps to protect themselves online”
58%
say they “don’t do anything risky online”

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But many cyber threat actors try to trick people into giving up information instead of trying to attack their devices.

And that’s called social engineering Social engineeringThe practice of obtaining confidential information by manipulation of legitimate users. A social engineer will commonly use the telephone or internet to trick people into revealing sensitive information. For example, phishing is a type of social engineering. .

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So, how does social engineering work?

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1
A cyber criminal does research on

search engines
social media

to learn more about you or your company.

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2
They send you a message that looks like it’s from

a friend
your boss
a familiar company

or another trusted source.

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3
They trick you into sending sensitive information, like

passwords
credit card numbers
financial data

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22% of data breaches involve social engineering ^Footnote2

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Social engineering is
targeted and sophisticated
and anyone can fall for it.

(Yeah, even you.)

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Keep your information safe
Limit what you share on social media Social mediaInternet-based tools that allow people to listen, interact, engage, and collaborate with each other. Popular social media platforms include Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. ?
Use different passwords for each account ?
Always look out for signs of phishing PhishingAn attempt by a third party to solicit confidential information from an individual, group, or organization by mimicking or spoofing, a specific, usually well-known brand, usually for financial gain.  ?

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Get more tips to protect yourself and your devices at
GETCYBERSAFE.CA