Fifteen years ago when a lot of people thought of threat actors, they would think of a kid in his parents’ basement with a hoodie in a dark room doing all these things,” Hudson says. “That has changed. You don’t have to be extremely technical.”
Typical cyber threats include phishing, malware, fraudulent advertising, and fraudulent applications. During the holiday season, threat actors play upon human behaviors, such as being in a haste, wanting to be charitable, not looking through emails in detail or eagerly clicking links that are not secure. They often use bots to gather information from the internet, too. “Bots are applications that are programmed to perform certain tasks. So essentially, they are digital tools – and there are good bots and bad.,” says Hudson. “They are moving faster than you or I.”
In the midst of potential threats, it’s important to develop a plan for protecting yourself. Hudson encourages practicing good “cyber hygiene” through the following practices:
- Keeping a unique password – and keeping it private.
- Changing your password regularly.
- Being careful about the information you provide to websites, especially when answering security questions.
- Using two-factor authentication
- Updating software
- Setting up account alerts
- Opting out saving credit card information after a purchase
- Steering clear of too-good-to-be-true emails and links.
“Look up the name of the company,” implores Hudson. “This is something threat actors don’t want you to do. They don’t want you to research them. Look up the name of the company and type in the word scam and see what comes up there. That is just another really easy way to see if the person or the business that you’re doing business with is actually legitimate.”
- Knowing how to identify a secure link and domain.
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The spelling, domain name, and URL are helpful hints. Websites that have https are technically secure compared to websites that have http.
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