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Did you know 71% of the Cyber Crimes in Western NY are initiated through Social Engineering? Social Engineering is when a criminal pretends to be someone else in order to gain access to restricted information. Social Engineering can occur by gaining physical access to a location or it can occur electronically through email or Internet Sites. For example, you may receive an email from what appears to be a reputable company (like UPS). The email indicates you have a package and should click on the link to obtain details. By clicking the link, a virus is installed to your PC. Be careful to inspect emails very closely for any indication of fraud, especially if you are not expecting the email!

A newer type of Social Engineering initiated through the Internet, involves a fraudulent application which displays a “Security Alert” on your screen. The alert looks just like a Microsoft security alert and indicates that you need to apply a patch to defend a security risk. If you click to install the patch, a virus will be installed on your PC. The difference between this alert and an actual Microsoft Alert is that Microsoft runs as an application while a fraudulent alert is a web page.

If you believe you have selected a link that may have been fraudulent, always run Anti-Virus software with up-to-date definitions. You should also stay current with Microsoft service packs. Both of these solutions can help defend against exposure to these types of risks, but if you detect a problem, you may want to give us a call.

This posting was found on Five Star Bank's Web Banking Site