A Hacker will try to get your personal information whether you work in a large company or not. What ever a hacker gathers can be sold to other hackers or on the Dark Web.
1. Email
Email is one of many methods a hacker will attempt to get your personal information.
Red Flags to look for in an email...
1. FROM Line: Sender you know is sending an email…Odd and out of character or don’t know the sender
2. TO Line: Other people included in the email you don’t know
3. DATE Line: Most of the time, not sent during business hours
4. SUBJECT Line: Most of the time the subject is irrelevant
5. Attachments: The only type of attachment that is safe is a "TXT" file. Example… Readme.txt.
Note: Open these files using Notepad in Windows
6. Hyper Link: Hover over the link to reveal the actual address.
**On android select & hold down until you get a menu, then see details.
7. Content of the Email: The email has urgency for you to click on a link or open an attachment.
2. Text Message
A Smartphone is a new rich environment for Personal Information so be careful on the text messages you get. If you get a text asking you to click on a link, think first "who is it from?" If you know the sender but it's out of their character then call the sender to clarify if the sender intended to send you a Text Message. BEWARE selecting on or clicking on the link can download a program that can give the sender full access to your phone.
Another method can be a spoof text message. The message is stating an App on your phone has to be updated. The file can look legitimate such as "SnapChat.APK". Don’t install a program from a text message! Remember, updates always come from the Google Play Store. You can check your android phone to verify if the App has an available Update.
3. Files and Programs
The a safe file that will not have some kind of Virus or Malware is a Text file with the Extension ".txt". Look carefully at the attached files before you decide to download and open it. Hackers will try to fool you by having the TXT in the name of the file. (Example 'readme.txt.vsb'.) Although it says txt the actual extension is a Vsb.
Most "Free" download programs my cost you a bigger price. Don't be quick to download and accept the agreements the freeware is asking you to click on. Look at the software it wants to include with the download. Some can contain Trojan Horse, a Worm, Spyware, or Malware. Always go to the software publisher website to download their free software. For example, if you want to download 'Adobe Acrobat Reader DC', go to adobe.com.
4. Social Media
There is an increase of people posing as a celebrity. Some red flags to lookout for is that the person ask for money to be sent thru Cashapp, Venmo, and other non traceable platforms.
Only send money to people you know when paying by Cash App, Vemo, Paypal, Zelle, and Remitly. There are many others but these seem to be most used by people.
