Recently, an email user opened a message and found an invitation to access a Google Doc. The sender’s name and email address were familiar to the recipient, so the person did as instructed. Shortly afterward, the recipient found that a hacker gained control of his account. This recipient wasn’t alone
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Recently, an email released by a scammer pretends to be from Capital One, a major, well-respected financial institution. In it, the scammer attempts to lure the email recipient into believing the Capital One website could be at risk of a fraudulent attack unless the individual clicks on an embedded link
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Business email accounts are as susceptible to scam attacks as personal accounts. Though a spam filter may do its best to weed out these malicious digital assaults from the daily onslaught of incoming email, some scams sneak past them. When they do, these cloaked villains do their best to fool
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How old email accounts can rise from the dead. As we move through life, we may find that email account names outlive their usefulness. Email names such as “partymonster” or “superslacker” may be fine in high school, but entirely unsuitable when adding them as contact information to an important job
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In an announcement on September 22, 2016, Yahoo disclosed the news that criminals stole account information for more than 500 million users from its systems in late 2014. While the company doesn’t believe financial information was included in that data breach, it does state, “account information may have included names,
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When is a fraud alert not a fraud alert? When it’s a scammer trying to lure you into giving up your personal information. A recent Own Your Defense article reviewed a powerful strategy scammers employ to lure targets into taking a specific action. That strategy, the exploitation of fear, is
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Spammers and scammers appreciate the value of their email distribution lists. Culled from a variety of sources including contest entries, request for information forms, business databases, and suppliers that specialize in consumer data warehousing, these lists represent the life’s blood of their income. Once these data hoarders acquire a person’s
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Scammers are tricky, and they’ll do whatever they can to convince you that one thing is actually another. One of the more popular ways for email spammers to get you to click on a link is to disguise it as something else. Hyperlinks are a convenient way for people to
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Curiosity can sometimes be a good thing. It can prompt someone to take a college course on ancient civilizations, explore the great outdoors, or ask that special someone out on a date. It can also lead someone down a path of misfortune by clicking on the wrong email message. With
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Spam is a tricky creation of those who seek something from others. Spam filters can limit some of the daily inflow of unwanted emails, but when that digital sentry allows some sneaky spam to pass through its defenses, some account holders turn to a helpful link at the bottom of
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