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Welcome to this week's Cyber Security Awareness video.
Today we will be discussing the dangers of email phishing
and how to protect yourself from these cyber attacks.
The term 'PHISHING' refers to almost any kind of email based cyber attack.
Cyber criminals will try to attack you by sending you an email pretending to be a trusted source.
Cyber attacks work one of four ways:
Harvesting Information.
The attacker's objective is to fool you into providing your login, password or credit card number.
Infecting your computer with malicious links.
The cyber attacker's goal here is to infect your computer once you have clicked on a link.
Infecting your coputer with malicious attachments.
The hacker wishes to gain complete control of your computer once you have opened up an infected file attachment.
Scams.
The cyber attacker is after your money and personal information.
Don't be fooled by these criminals.
Let's see how well Stony Brook students know how to protect themselves from phishing.
Reporter:"Do you ever look for mistakes in emails that you receive from businesses?"
Woman:"Yes, I do yes. Because I'm a Virgo and I'm a perfectionist..
...and I notice, like, little things that nobody else notices."
Woman: "No I do not."
Man: "I find them pretty often, but I don't actively look for them."
Reporter: "How do you open links that are emailed or messaged to you?"
Woman: "Uh, well if I, if I know, like, if I know it's a safe link then I'll open it...
...but sometimes like it, like if it seems sketchy I won't open it."
"Like if it's for a job that I know I never applied for I'm not gonna open it."
Woman: "I click on it, and if I have to download it I won't click on it...
...I'll just go on another computer and do it because I never have room on my laptop."
Man: "Depends on the link. I usually just click it and let it open up in a window if I trust it."
"But if it looks like bull I just skip over it."
Reporter:" What do you do when you receive an odd or too good to be true email from a a friend or one of your contacts?"
Woman: "Uh, at first I like, years ago I used to open them and be like 'What?', but now, like, I know better."
"Because first of all my friends don't even email me."
"Unless, like, if they tell me they're about to email me, so I'm like, if it's for class then I'll open it."
"But, it's like, my friends text me. They don't email me so I know it's a scam."
Woman: "Um, that's a hard question."
"I get overly excited and then I just get excited."
Man: "I just ignore it."
Man: "I ignore it."
Man: "I usually just ignore it."
Man: "I just ignore it."
Reporter: "Like the Facebook things that come up?"
Man: "Like 'This person recommends you to do this...' No." Then I get off of Facebook.
Reporter: "Do you ever check to see how emails are addressing you? What do you look for?"
Man: "Uh, yeah sometimes, um, they say like 'Chris' with an exclamation point (!)."
"I'm like no. Nobody... nobody does that. That's not one of them."
"Nobody even says my name, they just, it's the message."
Woman: "Uh, well it depends if it's from a business."
"Like I look to see, like, if they, spelled my name right, that's one."
"Or, um, if it seems, like, authentic. I don't know."
Man: "If I'm being addressed as, like, a student then that's something to look out for because it's obviously important."
"But if it's just a really casual message then, again, I ignore it."
If you think that you are reading an email that sounds odd or too good to be true...
...and suspect that you are under a phishing attack or scam,...
...you can protect yourself by simply deleting the email.
Remember, be aware and on the look-out for:
Suspicious emails that are not directly addressing you.
Emails that sound odd or too good to be true.
Do not click on links. Copy and paste them or type the destination into your browser.
And, remember to look for spelling mistakes in emails from businesses, they usually proofread them before sending them out.