Like water, which will take the path of least resistance, most cyber criminals gear their efforts toward taking advantage of the human element rather than trying to break through software and hardware security. That aspect of computer security is referred to as “social engineering”. It is much easier to trick the computer user (you) than it is to thwart, crack or ‘hack’ computers.
How is this done?
You probably see it all the time. I know I do. Any email sender can ‘spoof’ the sender information. In United States Postal Service (snail mail) terms, it is as easy as my sending you a letter and putting someone else’s return address on it. The spam emails that I see regularly have return addresses from major banks, the IRS, the Better Business Bureau, UPS, and many, many more. You get the idea: mostly familiar names; senders who might pique your curiosity: “Hmm, I didn’t order anything from XYZ company lately, what might this be?”. “Or, Oh no, why does the IRS say I owe them money?”
If you receive messages such as this, often times you can simply disregard and delete them. Sometimes they are too coincidental, perhaps coinciding with a recent purchase or transaction. Opening the message itself rarely presents the problem. Most of the actual infections occur with message attachments. Often times, the attachments take the form of a PDF, or a ZIP file.
That makes protecting yourself much easier doesn’t it? If the message seems suspicious, and it contains no useful information but has an attachment, don’t open the attachment.
Think about it: How did the IRS get your email address? If you do owe them money, do you really think they’d send you an email? Wouldn’t they call? I laugh to myself when I receive a message from a bank with which I do not do business.
Please remember to remain on guard with respect to email messages. If you do not know the sender, or if it seems odd that you would be receiving a message from a particular sender, or with a particular message, it is probably spam. Always be particularly suspicious if the email contains an attachment.
No email spam filter is perfect; spammers are always trying to find ways through corporate defenses. Remain vigilant and, as always, if there is a question, don’t hesitate to contact me.