RogerTech.uk

Cybersecurity presentation















More than 500 potential cyber
attacks logged every second,
BT says

ITV NEWS

Tue, 24 Oct 2023













Research by BT Group shows that over a
quarter (28%) of people over 65 receive
multiple scam calls, texts or emails a week,
with those aged 55 to 64 encountering
more scams than any other age group
.













Four strap lines to take away



If it’s out of the blue … it’s not for you! Or,

If it's out of the blue … don't click through!

If you didn’t ask for it … don’t do what it says!

Quiz the caller!













Email, texts and phone calls

The problem: email, texts and the land-line phone system
were invented in the ’80s without much thought about
security.

Email addresses, text messages and land-line phone
numbers can be spoofed, that is, compromised, as being
sent from anyone!

So it is technically possible for someone to:

There is no way of preventing this old tech from being
compromised, so then … one at a time:







Email

Firstly, a simple fear-free approach

If it’s out of the blue … it’s not for you!

If you didn’t ask for it … don’t do what it says!

… then … delete it



For the curious - another approach:

Check the domain (website name) of the sender’s address
(the bit after the @)

Email addresses can be spoofed, that is, compromised,
as being sent from anyone!

[See examples: Mail > Ken’s]







Texts

Again …

If it’s out of the blue … it’s not for you!

If you didn’t ask for it … don’t do what it says!

… then … delete it

Scam texts usually have links, check the link website
It it a website/domain you trust!

[See examples: Photos >Cyber]







Phone calls

Phone numbers can be spoofed, that is, compromised,
as being sent from anyone!

The problem here is that it may be a genuine caller!





So …





Take ownership of your own identity
and information … you ask questions!













Quiz the caller!

You ask the caller your questions!

I recently explained this to a lady older than me who then
said she was looking forward to having a go!







So lets’s have a little role play … these are

re-enactments of calls I’ve received.













When you receive a suspect email or phone call: Don’t
only block the number but note the number and put it
in the subject line to:

Action Fraud at report@phishing.gov.uk













When you receive an ’urgent’ communication …

‘Do it tomorrow’, maybe the best way to stay secure
… if it’s really important it will wait!
… and talk to someone about it.

Curiosity or something-for-nothing can lead you astray.













Artificial Intelligence as it applies to

emailed and telephone scams

A warning …

Whereas some email scams give themselves away with poor
grammar and punctuation, misspellings and strange layout …
that is all changing: email and text scams may be generated
by AI and become totally plausible! But the advice is the same!



A recent report describes how a man in the US received a
distressing phone call sounding like his mother demanding
Bitcoin for her release. He ‘quizzed the caller’ and asked her
for her maiden name! He rang his mum … she was fine. Her
voice was copied by AI from her social media posts!













Scammed: why the rich, famous and experts get
duped more often than you think

[Skip this …to read at home!]

People often feel confident in their ability to detect a scam. In a series of experiments that investigated why people engage with materials that are obviously scams – such as letters apparently notifying the person of lottery winnings – we found a subgroup of people who said such letters were probably a scam but would contact the scammers to see for sure, then still back out without any losses.

A typical scam starts by exposing a victim to the fraudster’s pitch, which is designed to evoke strong emotions such as fear. Then fraudsters use persuasion tactics such as commitment (making people feel obligated to follow through on a pledge), authority (police), scarcity (time pressure), and “social proof” to engage their targets. Social proof is a term coined by psychologist Robert Cialdini to explain the way consumers will adapt their behaviour in response to what other people are doing.













Passwords!

They no longer need to be complicated!

They can be easy to remember …

… but need to be long as well as including a capital and a
number.

It’s so important to have a different password for each login.

Here’s a way to do it …

http://rogertech.uk/surfer/SilverSurfer-password-guidance.html
[View tab]













Backup

Ensure you make regular backups of all your documents and
photos!













Privacy and data loss

If privacy is not important to you, take a mental break for a
few minutes … !













Google

Google is now quite hot on security, but is totally reliant on
data about its users for its advertising billions on knowing as
much about you as possible - profiling means zero privacy.

Suggestions to avoid a lot of Google’s invasive
profiling:







Meta/Facebook/WhatsApp/Instagram, etc

Not only does Meta profile you to make its billions, like
Google, but unlike Google it has also had at least four
significant data breaches.

The UK Information Commissioner has gone on public record
to describe the organisation as, “Morally bankrupt
pathological liars”
.



Suggestions:







Amazon

Suggestions from PCWorld:

4 Amazon Privacy Settings You Should Change Right Now, 

Jared Newman advises that changing these four Amazon
privacy settings can minimize or prevent much of Amazon's
data collection.

  1. Opt out of Amazon's targeted ads

  2. Limit Alexa data collection

  3. Minimize Amazon device data collection

  4. Hide your Amazon browsing history

Amazon actually tracks all your mouse/pointer movements!













How to have a private digital life!

Avoid

Google products

Meta products

Amazon products (not its website)



Suggestions to use instead of the above













Land Registry Property Alert Service

Property Alert is a free property monitoring service for anyone
who feels a registered property could be at risk from fraud.

You can sign up to get email alerts when certain activity occurs
on your monitored properties, so you can take action if needed.

https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk















Check to see if your email address has been
compromised or ‘pwned’ …



https://haveibeenpwned.com

[View tab]













A note from Nationwide bank

How to recognise a legitimate message from us

If you’ve been contacted by someone claiming to be from
Nationwide, there are ways to help you work out if it’s us or
not.

The most important thing to remember is that we will never
make you feel pressured to do anything. And we won’t try and
stop you from checking who you’re speaking to.

We’ll never ask you to
We’ll always













To conclude …

Don't panic … a quote from White Rabbit in Disney's 1951
animated production of Alice in Wonderland



"Don't just do something. Stand there."





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