DailyPost 1572
PHISHING IN IGNORANCE
Digital literacy in not only the capability to use worldly tech tools but also the capability to safeguard oneself from the marauders of the cyber world. This is generally believed to the be specialised work of the cyber security professionals, when in reality everybody is at risk and each one has to take care of it, in a professional manner. The fast changing cyber world does not excuse anybody and one mistake can turn out to be the mistake of a lifetime. This can be loss of money, of reputation, missed opportunity or huge loss of time or landing into an issue which might turn out to be intractable.
The Nidhi Razdan case brings forth all these risks in a very conspicuous manner. The first lesson is that anybody can be duped. A professional discerning journalistic brain can also be taken for a ride. The efforts made by the cyber criminals to learn the art of social engineering is phenomenal and way beyond you can handle as a part of regular interaction; can neither safeguard or react. The ultimate perfection in able to keep the engagement going for more than six months, with she not suspecting anything is a tribute to the cyber criminals understanding of both the domain and human psychology.
Due diligence has never been a very popular requisite at the individual / personal level and more so when it is related to an academic domain either as a student or a teacher. When due diligence has been in such a short supply where will digital due diligence come from. The users are not even ready to see if the URL is http or https. Digital due diligence is a different ball game and as you are interacting on a regular basis, you have to keep on finding ways and means of tackling this issue. Needless to say that there are standards in place and can be used as per your requirements. You need to know them. Suffice to say that 80% or more of these issues happens because of ignorance or by being casual about it.
Phishing is a very popular cyber crime which emanates out of the circumstances mentioned above. Social engineering is at its core. Specific targeting in spear phasing. Trying and getting a high value target is Whaling. The present day cyber crime scenario has made it well nigh impossible to keep interacting on the internet, which is must for all our activities, without being reasonably conversant with Cyber Security. It would keep on getting rampant by way of numbers, scale and complexity. A world immersed in technology needs cyber security enabled users. Ignorance is an excuse at your own peril.
LAME DUCKS CAN BE PHISHED AT EASE.