Phishing, social engineering, and other cyber attacks

Many cyber attacks target people rather than machines. Social engineering means manipulating someone into giving up information or access, for example by pretending to be tech support or a teacher. Phishing is a common form: a fake email, text, or website that imitates a trusted source to trick people into entering passwords or other personal information, and spear phishing is a phishing attack tailored to a specific person. Warning signs include urgent or threatening language, unexpected attachments, requests for passwords or payment, and links or sender addresses that do not quite match the real organization. Other attacks include keylogging software that secretly records what you type and rogue Wi-Fi access points set up to intercept unencrypted traffic, collect information about connected devices, or send users to fake login pages. Good defenses include checking a suspicious message through a separate, trusted channel, never sharing passwords, using multi-factor authentication, keeping software updated, and reporting suspected attacks.

This explanation is AI-generated and can occasionally be wrong. 🚩 Report