Those little links can pose big dangers.
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By now, you’ve surely gotten at least one: an unexpected SMS message carrying a tiny link just begging to be clicked on. Do so and you might be handing cyber thieves valuable information they can use to swipe your bank account balance, fake your identity or even track your whereabouts.
Dubbed smishing, a contraction of SMS and phishing, some texts are clearly spammy. They tout obvious bait such as energy-boosting supplements, cash prizes from major retailers or CBD gummies in new flavors. Some are more subtle, masquerading as COVID test results, shipping notifications or alerts for online payments that didn’t go through. Either way, they’re dangerous and getting more popular with cybercriminals.
“No, it’s not just you,” says Josh Yavor, who runs information security at Tessian, a cybersecurity company specializing in phishing. “Personally and within the people I talk to,…
