Beware of Smishing

Dear Black Bag Confidential Reader,
According to the FBI, Americans lost $1.3 billion to cybercrime in 2016, and that amount is expected to increase in 2017.
This should not come as a surprise. Our lives are becoming more and more integrated with smart technology, and criminals are capitalizing on this, coming up with novel ways to steal your personal information.
Of course, cyberattacks are nothing new. Most people are already familiar with phishing scams, where a hacker sends an email in the hopes you click on an infected link or reply with your personal information.
Remember when Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, was the victim of a phishing expedition? As a result, his Gmail account was hacked and a slew of emails related to Clinton’s campaign were leaked.
Thanks in large part to stories like this, people are becoming increasingly aware of these types of email scams and exercising caution before opening or downloading a suspicious email.

This post was published at Laissez Faire on Aug 17, 2017.