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With only a month to go until the new Data Privacy regulations come into force, we;ve taken a look at the Cyber Security Breaches report released from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Read more
There are a number of scams doing the rounds at the moment, and they are becoming ever more convincing and complex, using multiple techniques to build a profile of you.
Antivirus software can not protect you against these, only your awareness and constant alertness will help.
As always, please do THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK on everything. Ask “Do I know the person who made this message/post” If you don’t, don’t forward the post regardless of how emotive it is.
A number of Facebook accounts have been compromised, with accounts sending out personalised messenger posts to friends, with links back to a Facebook page, such as a pages called “216,526 Views” and using a YouTube like icon.
If you receive such a message, contact the sender buy another means to let them know, and delete the message.
If you think your account has been compromised, first go to your account settings, security and login and check where you’re logged in. Log out any unknown sessions.
Now go to your connected apps and remove all apps or games.
Now go and charge your account password, and enable login verification emails and 2-step authentication in Security and Login Settings
As we roll on towards the European Union General Data Protection Regulation early next year, it’s becoming even more important for companies of all sizes to tackle data security within their structure. Small businesses may have a simpler organisational setup but lack the required skills and resources to manage their data within the new regulations framework, and medium sized enterprises might have some in-house IT skills, but a massively more complex data structure and processing setup that are adding to data security issues. Read more
One of the regular occurring scams is back, being spread mostly by WhatsApp at the moment but likely to be popping up on other platforms like Facebook and Twitter Read more
A recent Which? shoes how easy it is to fake text messages as being from your bank or credit card company. In the report the journalist along with ‘ethical hacker’ Scott Mcgready are able to create and send convincing fake emails that show up alongside genuine text messages from a bank. Read more
After any major incident, many people turn to the internet to find out more information and to see if there is any way in which they can help. The majority of us will be shocked by tragic events as we see them unfold, more so when the incident is closer to home.
Unfortunately, the fraudsters know this, and don’t look at these events with sympathy, but look at them as an opportunity to scam people. Make it second nature to verify the sources of information you share, think before you click.
Scams that crop up after an incident can vary and take on many forms. They can be from people just out to harvest ‘likes’ by creating and sharing memes or making up stories about fictitious people ‘who were there’ when it happened, or they can be criminals out to pinch your bank details.
Often, the fraudsters will use social media to share a photo with a sentimental message or outraged caption, and will use any tactics then can to pull on your heart strings to get you to forward or re-share the post.
Expect them to exploit photos of affected people and paint sad stories to get you to hand over your money.
Use some common sense when deciding if a link you’re about to click is genuine.
We can help you sort the truth from the lies, and show you how to identify fraudulent emails and links. We can even configure and install hardware designed to filter out the fake news.
Facebook Scams That Demean OthersYou may have seen posts with status messages along the lines of:
And a photo of someone showing a disability or with a disfiguration or medical condition, encouraging you to share the post because no one else will. But these posts are fake and demeaning to the people featured in the photos.
The posts suggest the person in the photo is the original poster and that you, as the reader, are ashamed of them because of their background or disability. It suggests that you help them by sharing the post, liking, and possibly also typing some message or word underneath.
The posts are fake, they are designed to make you feel emotionally involved to increase user interaction. They are conning unsuspecting, kind-hearted Facebook users into interacting with the posts (sharing, commenting and liking) out of shame and pity.
If you come across one of these posts, you should block and report the page using the arrow on the top right of the shared post (be careful here not to block and report your friend by mistake!) If you don’t feel confident in reporting the page as spam, then just ignore the post.
The photos used on these posts (some of them are edited before posting to make it look like they have a missing limb) are stolen from Facebook profiles, Flickr groups or other photo sharing sites and used without permission from the person featured in them.
The posts are disrespectful to the person in them, and in sharing the photo you are unsuspectingly spreading the hurt they cause the victim.
The posters have only one interest in mind, to promote themselves on Facebook at the cost of the poor victims in their posts. Their goal is to get as many people to share and comment on their horrid posts.
Facebook calls this kind of interaction ‘organic’ and the more organic shares, likes and comments a page can generate, the more popular Facebook considers it to be. This helps promote the page on Facebook, and once they have all this ‘positive’ organic feedback, they can then use the page for other uses, like promoting hate speech, trying to distort the ‘now trending’ section on Facebook with their own agenda, and possibly spreading links to other similar Facebook pages and websites.
#WeCanHelpIf you need help with using social media, and in spotting fake and spammy content, we are involved in a free-to-attend drop-in IT training session where you can find out how to be more social on social media. Contact us for information, or head along to the Hub at Ashmore Park, Wednesfield on a Wednesday between 10am – 1pm.
07825650122 | it@tinsleyNET.co.uk | @tinsleyNET | +tinsleyNETcouk | www.tinsleynet.co.uk | Facebook | #Stuff4Steph
tinsleyNET IT Services Consultant
IT Support for small to medium or large sized businesses, home office workers and home users
across the UK based in the West Midlands and Shropshire.
#WeCanHelp
OK, It’s going to turn into one of those urban myths that unsuspecting journalists or well-meaning Facebook friends post from time to time, but behind the PR there is a serious note or warning.
With more users realising the security benefits of 2-step authentication, the criminals are coming up with new ingenuous ways to break into your account. Read more