This past year has brought a record number of data breaches – up 17% as of the third quarter – and experts are warning 2022 could bring an increasing number of targeted attacks that rely more on manipulating people’s emotions than on technical expertise.
“While we can never predict what will happen in the future, some of the data we see gives us a good glimpse into what’s ahead,” said Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, idtheftcenter.org. “In 2021, we saw threat actors become more targeted and strategic.”
Velasquez pointed to “social engineering” scams that use “psychological tactics,” which aim to get information from a person or a business. These scams play on your emotions, using fear, greed or curiosity to pry loose private details, according to Terranova Security. They also might tap into a desire to be helpful or the instinct to respond to a perceived sense of urgency.
The idea is to induce someone to disclose Social Security numbers, account log-in information, financial details, log-in credentials or a business’ financial information.
The methods include phishing emails or email hacking, or “vishing,” the voice version of phishing, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. There’s also “smishing,” part of the alphabet of scams. This one relies on text messages.
Some common signs of a phishing effort are the following:
• A suspicious sender’s address, which can imitate a…
