Don’t take the bait

In week two of our series on security we’re talking about phishing. In this type of scam, someone is creating bait that looks like the real thing and dangling it in front of you hoping you’ll bite. The messages look like they’re from your bank, the IRS, your employer, etc. but they aren’t.

They want you to log in to “your account”, click a link, or share a password – but it’s not your account, the link doesn’t actually go to your bank, and that password you shared is now in the hands of someone with bad intentions. While most phishing used to be email based it has expanded to text messages, social media messages, phone calls and more.

Phishing attempts can be difficult to spot, even if you know what you’re looking for. With the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT it’s easier than ever to create messages that appear realistic to fool you into taking action. There’s a reason phishing is so widespread – it works. For more about phishing, how it works and how to protect yourself, you can read the full article here.